Right wing fledgling broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland has been fined some €93,000 for breaking the public broadcasting sector’s journalistic code of ethics by spreading wrongful information and not differentiating between fact and opinion, public broadcasting organisation NPO has announced.
The fine is lower because the broadcaster is a newcomer and has to be able to pay, the NPO said.
Since then the broadcaster has been repeatedly breaking journalistic guidelines by spreading patently false information without rectifying it, the NPO Ombudsman said in its ruling.
Extreme right wing Flemish politician Flip de Winter, for instance, was allowed to talk about ‘replacement theory’ unopposed, which also prompted parliamentary questions.
Ongehoor Nederland was given a week to change its working methods and avoid a fine but this has not happened.
The NPO said it expects the broadcaster to keep to the journalistic code in future.
‘We apparently have displeased [the NPO] by broadcasting opinions about, for instance, mass immigration and the consequences of rampant climate measures. »