Minister Dalle had to come to the Media Committee of the Flemish Parliament to explain how and why The process that no one wantedthe documentary about the De Pauw case, was removed from the broadcast schedule last week.
It turns out that the VRT already bought the documentary, which was previously only shown on Streamz, in November last year. It then remained on the shelf for a while, waiting for a suitable broadcast moment. The debate surrounding sexual abuse in the church, which erupted as a result of the Canvas series Godforsakenwas still raging at the time and the VRT did not immediately want to start another polemic.
At the end of December, a message from Bart De Pauw arrived in the mailbox of VRT CEO Frederik Delaplace. He asked for a meeting, which would take place a few weeks later on January 11. De Pauw, who was sitting at the table with his wife, Delaplace and content director Ricus Jansegers, indicated that he wanted to apologize to his victims. At the same time, he would also try to defend them against what he called ‘the heroes of the internet’. Since the case broke out, the women involved have been subjected to a lot of rubbish online at every public performance.
After consultation with his management committee, Delaplace decided that this route was worth pursuing. Within the VRT, people had noticed several times in the past how valuable such a reconciliation between victim and perpetrator could be, Dalle indicated. Even when De Pauw asked to re-edit the documentary to filter out what he believed to be factual errors or possibly add an episode, the VRT top went along with it.
Importance of the victims
The question was presented to the makers, but fell flat. The conversations stalled and only a week before the broadcast, which was scheduled for Wednesday, March 20, De Pauw made himself heard again. He promised to start conversations with the victims, which made the VRT top decide to postpone the broadcast for the time being. Only then were the victims also informed.
“A big mistake,” Dalle said. “The interests of the victims should always have come first here. The question of whether they were interested in an apology should have been the starting point from the start.” The minister also criticized the lack of transparency about how the decision was made not to broadcast the documentary. Which led to distrust both internally and externally. “The good name of the VRT has been tarnished,” he said. “The threshold for reporting inappropriate behavior has become slightly higher again.”
But Dalle did not question the functioning of Delaplace, despite fierce criticism from Groen and Vooruit, who insisted on an external audit of the VRT. It is now up to the CEO and his management to restore trust, Dalle believes. Both internally and externally. A script that determines who must go through which steps to adjust the broadcast schedule should help with this. And in the fight against transgressive behavior, Dalle expects the VRT to play an even more pronounced pioneering role.
VRT will appoint an ‘external bridge builder’ to restore trust
The VRT will appoint an “external bridge builder” to restore trust within the organization. The management of the public broadcaster reported this after consultation with the trade unions following the fuss over the broadcast of the documentary about the Bart De Pauw case.
The VRT management and the unions will start looking for the right person from tomorrow, according to a press release. “VRT went through a turbulent period last week and that has an influence on many employees,” says the management.
“The management of VRT understands the many concerns and is happy to discuss this with colleagues who wish to do so. Staff members can also call on confidential counselors for a confidential conversation. Together we continue to believe in a strong public broadcaster that makes a difference in our society every day.”
