© BELGAIMAGE
A mediator may be appointed next week to help restore trust between staff and management at the public broadcaster VRT. Flemish Media Minister Benjamin Dalle (CD&V) announced this in the Flemish Parliament. According to the unions, management has already proposed a “serious candidate”.
Source: BELGA
Yesterday at 5:42 PM
The unions will discuss the proposal internally, with the intention of making decisions next week. They hope that the external bridge builder can restore trust and work on communication at the public broadcaster. It was the management that proposed hiring an external mediator.
Social unrest arose within the public broadcaster when the management last month stopped the broadcast of the documentary series about Bart De Pauw, ‘The Process that Nobody Wanted’ at the last minute. Ultimately, CEO Frederik Delaplace apologized and the series was broadcast anyway.
Opposition parties Vooruit and Groen interpellated the minister on Thursday in the Media Committee of the Flemish Parliament following reports from De Standaard that the VRT top not only intervened in the broadcast schedule with the documentary about Bart De Pauw, but also made changes at other times. implemented or considered.
Katia Segers (Vooruit) wanted to know whether Dalle was aware of these interventions by the VRT management. For example, consideration has been given to postponing the sensational documentary ‘Godforgotten’. Green MP Meyrem Almaci spoke of “disturbing reports” about the way of decision-making and “possible influence of the top of the VRT”.
Dalle emphasized that there is no political pressure. Internal discussions are taking place within the VRT about the programming and the CEO and his management have the final responsibility, he said. According to the minister, management is allowed to make decisions and must not inform him of changes to the broadcast schedule.
Nevertheless, Dalle expects the public broadcaster to provide transparency about the programming decision-making process in the short term. The minister asks for “clear flowcharts” about that decision-making. “The CEO has confirmed to me that he will work on this,” he said.
The opposition once again called for an external audit of the public broadcaster. Dalle sees no need for this and wants to give the mediator every opportunity.