VRT top will almost certainly have to appear before parliament after yet another riot

The top of the VRT will most likely have to answer for themselves in the Flemish Parliament next week, after fierce criticism that the public broadcaster is increasingly following the government’s hand. Thursday wrote The standard that VRT is working on a TV program that, according to insiders, is tailor-made for Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA).

Previous attempts to summon the VRT leadership to parliament came to nothing, mainly due to resistance from the N-VA. But now it seems to be happening. Opposition parties Vooruit and Groen will most likely vote in favor of an interpellation of the CEO on Friday. The ruling party Open VLD would assist them in this. CD&V, the party of Media Minister Benjamin Dalle, does not want to communicate a position, but it is expected that it will also vote in favor.

Moreover, Vlaams Belang also wants the broadcast of the documentary after the riot The process that no one wanted still voted against an interpellation, but this time called Delaplace to parliament.

Even if the N-VA votes against again, which the party has already indicated it will do, it is almost certain that the VRT management will be expected in the Media Committee next Thursday.

“Severe consequences”

There she will have to provide explanations for a laundry list of incidents – in addition to the alleged government interference and the cancellation of the Bart De Pauw documentary, it has now emerged that the VRT top Godforsaken first wanted to stop and forbade the broadcasting of a satirical video by Elisabeth Lucie Baeten about Jan Jambon during the Mias. There is also said to be a toxic working environment in the newsroom. The labor inspectorate will now visit there.

“This is unprecedented,” says Flemish Member of Parliament Katia Segers (Vooruit). “What has happened within the VRT in recent weeks is particularly damaging.” She criticizes what she calls “creating programs according to the wishes and needs of cabinets”.in response to the story about the program Good minds, that sings the praises of Flemish science and innovation. The makers were given the assignment from above. Segers also asks Minister Dalle for an external audit of the VRT, because, according to her, the management has made “mistakes with serious consequences”.

Flemish Member of Parliament Meyrem Almaci (Green) is also calling for such an audit. “With one hand the Flemish government is squeezing the VRT to death financially, with the other hand it generously finances programs that are related to its own cabinets and ideological preferences,” she says.

“The fact that programs are financed on the basis of policy objectives – such as agriculture, tourism or innovation – does not seem to me to be a problem in itself,” says Vlaams Belang MP Klaas Slootmans. “But when the content is determined by the Flemish government, and it determines that the program must be broadcast before the elections, then there is a big problem.”

Bridge builder

Dalle already says that he will not respond to the request for an audit. “There are no additional elements that make this necessary for the minister,” says his spokesperson.

Regarding the political control of VRT productions, Dalle says that “the editorial autonomy and independence of the VRT come first. It is the VRT itself that determines the programming and autonomously develops the content. It goes without saying that political interference in the content of programs is undiscussable and unacceptable. There is no indication that this would be the case.”

The N-VA has also responded leniently. “If a minister now comes up with an idea and asks whether the VRT can do something with it, or whether the VRT in turn will develop something and then asks if there is money for it: that is an interaction,” says MP Wilfried Vandaele.

The VRT itself remained quiet on Thursday. The broadcaster did announce the appointment of Rob van Eijbergen “as an external mediator to restore trust between staff and management”. Van Eijbergen is professor of ‘integrity of organizations’ at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. At the end of March, after the riot surrounding the postponed Bart De Pauw documentary, the VRT had already announced that it would appoint an “external bridge builder”. The Dutch professor must now fulfill that role.