Matthijs van Nieuwkerk does not yet know whether he will return to television. He says this in an interview with NRC, following the revelations by de Volkskrant about the culture of the TV program De Wereld Draait Door. The piece revealed that the presenter was guilty of transgressive behavior for years. Former employees spoke of outbursts of anger and humiliation.
It is the first time in months that Van Nieuwkerk has made himself heard. After the revelations of de Volkskrant in November, he stated that he would cooperate in an investigation into the working conditions at his old show, but broke ties with broadcaster BNNVARA after it had called his short written statements about the Volkskrant publication disappointing.
Since then, much has been speculated on television about a possible return of Van Nieuwkerk, but he has not said anything in the media about his future or about the situation at DWDD. Now he does respond to the question of whether he sees himself returning to television. “Honestly? I just don’t know yet,” the newspaper quotes him as saying. “I have had exploratory talks. But first this interview, so that the radio silence is broken.”
Regret and shame
In the conversation, Van Nieuwkerk says that he did not know about the burnouts in his program. “Of course I knew about those incidents. About my tantrums. But what I didn’t know: that we were a burnout factory as stated on the front page of de Volkskrant. That we made so many people unhappy behind the scenes. Made them sick.”
He says he is “completely ashamed” about it. “I didn’t know it was so serious for some people. And I’m very sorry.”
After the revelations in the Volkskrant, Van Nieuwkerk spoke with former employees. “There were also very confrontational conversations with colleagues with whom I had enjoyed working for many years, I thought, and with whom I sometimes still worked, who now say: I found you intimidating and I found it difficult to talk to you at the time. They thought it was good that it was now negotiable thanks to the article.”
And according to him, there were also employees “who were really ground down by the shears of the program. And I had a part in that, and more painfully: I had no eye for that.” Asked what Van Nieuwkerk could have done differently, he says that there should have been a lot more talking and people should have listened to each other better.
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Since the publication of the Volkskrant article, Van Nieuwkerk says he has often wondered whether it was all worth it. “Was it worth it that colleagues were broken by our program? The answer is: of course not. In that respect, the price was too high and that should not have happened and I am sorry.” He wonders why he was “such a goddamn dick at times”.
The former face of broadcaster BNNVARA says that an attempt should be made to make television “with other mores”. He says he is curious about the result. “It could well be that we will soon reach a point where there is a new consensus about what is and what is not possible. Until then, we have to search.”
The revelations about the culture at DWDD have partly initiated this. In response to the reports, former minister Martin van Rijn is conducting an investigation into transgressive behavior in public broadcasting. The results of that study are expected in the last quarter of this year.
- Van Nieuwkerk and Klein are cooperating in an investigation into abuses at NPO
- ‘NPO directors gave Van Nieuwkerk advice about statement’
- Former minister Van Rijn oversees investigations into abuses at NPO
