Erald Van Der Aa
News from the NOS••Modified
Since early 2021, 25 freelance journalists have received CCTV, an emergency button, or both due to threats to their address. The PersVeilig platform confirms this following reports in Fidelity.
The newspaper requested these figures in response to a video which Forum for Democracy published yesterday. In it, MP Gideon van Meijeren attacked SBS reporter Merel Ek with a rotating camera. In the video, the FvD MP calls Ek a “sewer reporter”. Although Ek makes it clear that he doesn’t want to participate in the video, filming continues.
According to PersVeilig, this type of intimidation leads to a threat to journalists. “If leaders like politicians do something like this, the backers will start hitting, then online,” says Peter ter Velde, project leader at PersVeilig.
‘Vulnerable profession’
PersVeilig was founded in 2019 by the Dutch Association of Journalists, the Association of Editor-in-Chief, the Police and the Prosecutor. “After the murder of Derk Wiersum, journalism was considered a vulnerable profession,” says Ter Velde.
The platform has been working on the safety of freelance journalists since January 2021. Journalists who are employed must contact their editor in chief for this. The number of protected journalists is therefore probably even higher than 25, says Ter Velde.
Share addresses
“You can often set the clock in the right direction,” says Ter Velde of online threats and intimidation from journalists. According to him, when they write about FvD, PVV or corona, this often leads to a stream of threats on social media.
In nearly all cases, online threats persist, but that trade-off, he says, is hard to make. For example, it’s often the case that people share reporters’ address details via social media or are looking for it, she says. “Then enter the private sphere so that we do something with it.”
The consequences of the threats to journalists are enormous. “I don’t have numbers, but I know reporters who quit because they couldn’t take it anymore, reporters who became more alert, reporters who avoid certain topics, and reporters with complaints of post-traumatic stress disorder,” says Ter Velde.
Camera security and an emergency button aren’t really a solution, he admits, but he doesn’t see an alternative at the moment. Following the FvD video, the NVJ is investigating the possibility of legal action. Ter Velde fears only that this makes little sense. “I don’t see anything criminal about it.”
