Research program Zembla has acted carelessly in journalistic reporting on Rijkswaterstaat’s involvement in a granulite deposit. That is what the Journalism Council said about a broadcast of the BNNVARA program in February.
The broadcast stated that the top of Rijkswaterstaat granted a permit to an Amsterdam company to dump 100,000 tons of granulite, a sandy residual product, in a natural lake in Gelderland. Reporting on this, the independent council now finds, was “one-sided, unbalanced and tendentious”. Also the WE wrote about the revelations of Zembla.
‘No waste’
The company in question, Bontrup in Amsterdam, was twice denied a license to dump the granulite, according to the BNNVARA program, because of the risks to the environment. The Amsterdam company is said to have engaged former politician Halbe Zijlstra, who put it in touch with the Rijkswaterstaat top. The latter eventually allowed the deposit, it discovered Zembla.
Bontrup went to the Council for the deployment. According to the company, the granulite was incorrectly classified as harmful waste and not as soil. The company blamed Zembla only one expert, while – according to Bontrup – other experts believe that granulite is a “clean” material. According to Bontrup, the company suffered reputation damage due to the reporting.
Zembla defended himself by saying that the focus of the reporting was on the state of affairs at Rijkswaterstaat, and not at the company. The editors also found that enough “thorough research” had been carried out, and Bontrup was given enough space to respond in the broadcast.
Cabinet: not harmful
The Council is typing the editorial board of Zembla now on the fingers. According to the Council, the Amsterdam company was indeed accused of criminal offenses by experts in the broadcast, and this was not sufficiently qualified. Bontrup was also not given enough room to respond. There are no legal consequences attached to judgments of the Council.
Incidentally, the cabinet came to the conclusion in March that the dumping of the granulite in the Land van Maas en Waal had no harmful consequences for the environment and the living environment.
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