Of In the shadow of the World Cup (VPRO) Danny Ghosen upholds the honor of the public broadcaster when it comes to reporting about the World Cup men’s football in Qatar. From November 20, the sports department will report on the tournament in the usual uncritical manner. Before that time, Ghosen gets a corner on NPO2 to tell what is wrong with this world championship.
In four episodes, he pays attention to Nepalese construction workers who have died building football stadiums. The human rights of migrant workers are severely violated in Qatar. They work long hours underpaid in the scorching heat, get too little to drink and eat. How many deaths have there been? FIFA keeps it at three. British newspaper The Guardian there are 6,500. In previous episodes, Ghosen visited penniless relatives in Nepal, who were left with huge debts after the death of their loved one. Should FIFA compensate them?
Just like last week, Ghosen links these images to those of his attempts to talk to Orange players and national coach Louis van Gaal about this issue. The Dutch football association KNVB is not a fan of press freedom: Ghosen is stopped everywhere, he is not even allowed to go to press conferences. The players who nevertheless want to say something to him are immediately whistled back. Here Ghosen is in his element: the small, intrepid man who is stopped by huge wardrobes, and who then shouts his unanswered questions across the street.
In the third episode he has a success. National coach Louis van Gaal opens his car window for a short conversation. When he is in Qatar, Ghosen asks, is he going to speak out against the violations of human rights? Van Gaal replies: “We’ll visit a neighborhood…” And: “I’m not going to carry the burden of the whole world on my shoulders.”
The better investigative journalism
Incidentally, Ghosen is especially strong in fueling the indignation, he does not bring much new information. The better investigative journalism came from the German ZDF program on Tuesday Secret Sachet Katar. What is special is that the well-known football presenter Jochen Breyer presents the documentary. You don’t see Henry Schut doing that anytime soon. Breyer is allowed to film extensively in Qatar. When it spins in a stadium, the construction workers are quickly rescued from the scorching sun.
Breyer is even invited to the home of Khalid Salman, former football player and ambassador of the World Cup. From the interview with Salman came the news on Tuesday that the man calls homosexuality haram (unclean, forbidden) because it would be “brain damage”. New image damage for Qatar. At the table at Salman’s, Breyer is also told that women must stay at home, and must be veiled outside, because you prefer a sweet with the wrapper still on.
But the real revelation is about corruption. In this exciting section, we see distorted images of Breyer speaking to anonymous informants at German airports. The documentary zooms in on a sweet trip of European football bosses to Qatar. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich), president of the European Club Association, returned with two Rolexes that customs estimated at 92,000 euros. Small change compared to the millions given to FIFA executives from Qatar, but according to the documentary, the watches were merely amuse-bouches at the real deal: the sale of the Bundesliga broadcasting rights to a Qatari TV channel for far more money than they’re actually worth. .
Other major European football leagues are also said to have sold broadcasting rights in exchange for support for Qatar. The Dutch Eredivisie does not. What will be the reason for the KNVB to bow to the emir? Perhaps another fun follow-up study for Danny Ghosten. If they let him in.
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