NOS Sport editor-in-chief immediately replaced

ANP KippaThe set of the NOS Sport program Studio Tour in 2015

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 13:37

The entire editorial staff of NOS Sport must be replaced immediately. That is what Inge te Brake, the chairman of the National Association of Confidential Advisors (LVV), said this morning in the NOS Radio 1 Journaal. She made that statement in response to the abuses in the workplace of NOS Sport, which came out this week.

For example, cycling journalist Marijn de Vries wrote in a column in NRC yesterday that she had to deal with misconduct at NOS Sport, and that nothing was done about it. An article in de Volkskrant confirms the picture of an unsafe working climate on the ‘sports floor’. The newspaper spoke to 32 employees and former employees in recent months.

In a response to this article, the NOS management says it is ashamed of the described experiences and apologizes again. The management will meet today, a NOS spokesperson said.

It was already announced on Thursday that the editor-in-chief of NOS Sport will eventually step down, in their own words to make room for “new leadership”. This in response to an inventory of reports of transgressive behavior at the editorial office by an external confidential adviser.

But replacing the editors-in-chief in the long term is, according to Te Brake, “an absolutely wrong signal”. “With the argument ‘they have to stay for a while, because the sport must continue’ it seems again that you are not opting for the interests of the victims”.

Notifications about presenters

Employees and former employees of NOS Sport told de Volkskrant that it is customary in the editorial office “to this day” to discuss the appearance of female athletes and colleagues. Jokes were made about employees with a migration background or religious beliefs, according to the newspaper.

Presenters would also have been guilty of transgressive behavior. For example, Tom Egbers is said to have bullied and intimidated the young woman on the editorial floor after a short affair with an intern.

And cycling journalist Marijn de Vries describes in her NRC column how during car rides a colleague she rode with used obscene language about ‘fuck bitches’. De Vries writes that she raised this to no avail and that she was eventually asked less and less as a cycling analyst.

‘Close your eyes’

The events are very similar to “the behavior in a football canteen or a football locker room,” says management consultant Salem Samhoud. “It has been in the sports editorial system for a long time, but times are changing. It is clear that what used to be normal is no longer possible.”

Samhoud has the impression that “well-known presenters have turned a blind eye”. According to him, “the silent voice” in the organization was not sufficiently listened to.

In order to bring about a culture change, he says, “it takes courageous formal leaders to deal with the informal leaders who call the shots”. “Look at Erik ten Hag, who also dares to tackle the big star players. That is necessary.”

The current editor-in-chief of NOS Sport is not suitable for this, says Te Brake of the LVV. “They have not taken responsibility, over a very long time, with quite a few victims apparently. I then think: you were responsible, you did not act, I think that means you have to go now.”

According to Te Brake, it is good to wait for the results of the official investigation into abuses at NOS Sport for a final decision. “But pending the investigation, you can temporarily remove a number of people from their places.”

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