The clock did not strike nine o’clock on Thursday evening and the number of viewers to ANGRY (BNNVARA) on YouTube already totaled 4 million. Twice as much as the average of The Voice of Holland (RTL). Half a day after its appearance, BOOS’s viewing figure exceeded that of the undercover broadcast of Peter R. de Vries with criminal Joran van der Sloot, at the beginning of February 2008.
It wasn’t the only media-historical comparison to emerge this week. After a publicity flight to the front by broadcaster RTL, an atmosphere of expectation arose that was reminiscent of the rising fever during a final football tournament of the Dutch national team. This was the greatest Dutch television drama since the 1960s, did you know? ADcolumnist Angela de Jong in the hours before the broadcast. She referred to the consternation caused by the first time being exposed on Dutch TV. Even the morning after the broadcast, on Dutch breakfast TV, the superlatives had not yet been consumed. “A shock wave thunders through the country,” said WNL.
And yes, all comments that you could make in advance about the gasping atmosphere surrounding the broadcast, could be removed from YouTube television after the first few minutes. A barrage of testimonials came by, from young women and their experiences participating in the country’s largest talent show.
Nineteen women testified about band leader Rietbergen, fifteen about an anonymous director of the program. A woman said she was raped by Ali B and shared in detail how the rapper forced himself on her in his studio. And then there were the stories that were already going around about Marco Borsato, who would have rested his hands “prolonged and repeatedly” on the buttocks and hips of candidates from The Voice and The Voice Kids, sometimes thirteen or fourteen years young.
The drama touches on the reputation of great TV personalities, with whom generations of Dutch people have grown up. Media icon Linda (57) and media tycoon John de Mol (66) who two decades after the reconstruction envisioned a glossy world of luxury and success. Marco Borsato (55), who gave hundreds of thousands of Dutch people of the generation after them romance and meaning at massively attended concerts. And rapper/entrepreneur Ali B (40), who grew into a beacon of positivity and connection after the attacks on Fortuyn and Van Gogh.
Also read the TV review: John de Mol just has no idea
Power Switch
What happened before the eyes of many millions of Dutch people was nothing less than a change of power in the media world. A professionally disheveled programmer, wearing an earring and a Nirvana shirt, confronted the suntanned media tycoon, who has been chastened by forty years of success. At times John de Mol approached Tim Hofman – “You will recognize this” – but completely one of the boys De Mol did not become with Hofman.
The contrast between the two became visible in the staging alone. The man of glitz, glamour, and packed television studios took his seat in the semi-darkness of the studio of a youth program – the atmosphere approaching that of a college dance. John de Mol, man of total control over Tim Hofman, who flawlessly pierced through that control. Hofman’s interview was an example of the kind of transparency that the old media world so shunned: integral, even including a faltering presenter who had to check his paper to see what he wanted to ask again.
As they say in the Wild West: There’s a new sheriff in town. A sheriff who seems determined not to let a man get away with media machismo. Machismo that de facto outlaws young women with showbiz dreams.
Also read this profile of Ali B: ‘Model citizen’ Ali B falls from pedestal after BOOS broadcast
‘It’s not the women’s fault’
The talent show season has been suspended for the time being and De Mol himself realizes that a return to the channel of his best-selling brainchild is not an option for the time being. The morning after the broadcast, a group of women who work at Talpa addressed themselves in an advertisement in the General Newspaper directly to their boss: „Dear John, it is not the women’s fault. Greetings, the women of your company.” They responded to De Mol’s statement in conversation with Hofman that the attacked women in particular should now sound the alarm themselves – otherwise there would be nothing to do about abuse. Scarce support for De Mol after the broadcast came from former 50Plus leader Henk Krol. He complimented De Mol on Twitter with his response, “which appeared to me with the utmost integrity”.
In summary: the BOOS broadcast has brought the international #MeToo debate to Hilversum almost five years later. State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media, D66) entered into talks with broadcasters and immediately made it clear that he did not appreciate De Mol’s rebuttal.
It has become clear to me that women will not report if the culture in a company is not perceived as safe enough
This Friday afternoon, John de Mol let it be known that he was “horrified” by the reactions to his interview at BOOS. After much listening, he says he now understands that, “completely unintentionally,” he gave the impression of blaming women. “It has become clear to me that women will not come forward if the culture in a company is not perceived as safe enough.”
Broadcasters are faced with the task of giving the new media culture, of which Hofman is the exponent, ample scope, if they want to attract new generations of media users. A media culture that values transparency and ethics over enchantment and stardom. In which a live stream somewhere in a corner of the internet can win against an audience of millions who, on Saturday evening, gaze linearly at the appearance of others from the couch.
Times change, and with the times so do those in power. Also in media land. It is up to Hofman and his followers to avoid the pitfalls of the patriarchy before them.
Also read the analysis: ‘For victims of The Voice, the threshold to report misconduct was too high’
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 22 January 2022
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 22, 2022
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