NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster, supplying television and radio programming of an informational, educational, and cultural nature to the national public broadcastingsystem, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO).
The reason for the discussion this week on Mediaforum, comes in the wake of an article in the Volkskrant in which the police expressed anger with GeenStijl.
Earlier this week the site published a screenshot from the police system, which revealed the name and nationality of the the driver of the black Peugeot. It concerns a man of Moroccan descent who on June 10 rammed several bystanders at the Central Station in Amsterdam. Soon the police announced that the man was a 45-year-old “diabetic patient” who had become unwell behind the wheel.
But according to GeenStijl, the disclosure of personal data was “the very reason to doubt the [police] statement that it was an medical issue”.
Sikkema, ordinarily a supporter of GeenStijl, denied the site’s announcement regarding this incident. “From the beginning, GeenStijl tried to parachute in all kinds of conspiracy theories. Nothing appears that the cause of the accident was terrorism, but the fact that the man is a Moroccan national, is apparently enough to paint him as a terrorist,” says Sikkema.
NTR boss Paul Römer was even more vehement. “It’s disgusting that a club of provocateurs does this. This site does nothing but incite people.” The NTR director was even more furious that GeenStijl had actually become a subject for discussion on Mediaforum. According to Römer attention is exactly what these sites want. “We are talking about it again and that legitimises them.”
“Everyday, accidents happen, but I never read the names of those responsible in the newspaper, never!” Römer therefore believes that the nationality of the man was not relevant at all. “It’s a sick man, a diabetic patient who has suffered something terrible,” he screamed. He suggested giving such sites the complete silence treatment.
But a quick look at Dutch news, revealed that the nationalities of the drivers were mentioned in almost every case, except for the Amsterdam “diabetic accident”.
The most recent examples are found here: A Pole, a German, a Belgian and a Dutch citizen driving in Germany.
And according to the NTR director there is no reason to believe the police information either. He said there was no links between the nationality of the suspect and the rampage. It is wrong to think: “It’s a Moroccan man, so it’s going to be an attack,” Römer said. The site “exploited distress”, and the NTR director called it “nasty”.
But Römer forgot to mention that police also searched the home of the “diabetic patient” and detained him for four days, something they usually do not do in the case of normal accidents.
In addition, the “diabetic patient’s” blood was sent to the lab in Rijswijk to be analysed. Results are apparently, even two months later, still unknown.