Opinion | Four pieces about Wilders, the reader complained – but then the cabinet really fell

Due to circumstances I was in trains between Friesland, Brabant and Amsterdam for a large part of Tuesday, which means that I in the pre-the-coffee cabinet trap and the reporting about it NRC Entirely via my phone had to follow. That was not disappointing. From half past nine the blog posts with reactions passed by as small stations, accompanied by a timeline of the unfortunate cabinet. I already read a political one for lunch obituary: Cabinet perished in amateurism and inability.

The continuation of the trip was accompanied by, among other things, a further stream of news items, one Hoe-Nu-Verder storyAn quick column from Bas Heijne, a report from Apeldoorn, a commentary (The Schoof cabinet should have fallen much earlier) and at the end of the day (I was back at home) a very insightful Reconstruction van de Val. For example, a person no longer needs TV – the next morning a very critical television sector (and the podcast recorded in the evening followed NRC today).

Not everything went perfectly, I heard later: it was afterwards on the editors a pity that the live blog only came in the air after the cabinet trap was a fact. That hung together with the speed of developments. In practice, following a cabinet crisis is often an endless night waiting for closed meetings; This time, after fifteen minutes the party leaders were already outside the room of Geert Wilders with the shards. « After Monday evening we took a serious account of a cabinet trap, but we thought that there would be a few hours, » says Chef Politiek and Pim van den Dool. An advantage was that, due to the almost constant near-crisis in which Schoof and his followers, his way was struggling through parliamentary history, we had already thought about what could be written with a definitive crisis.

The final certificate was unusual, just as a lot fell out of the Schoof cabinet outside the traditional order in The Hague. That certainly also applied to Wilders’ sudden press conference last Monday, where he threatened a crisis if his coalitionmates would not agree with a series of additional asylum measures. « It was clear to us that we would immediately provide Wilders’ words, » says Van den Dool. That took more time than hoped, also because the press conference lasted long. In the end, a first report appeared an hour and a half after the end of the press conference Online, including responses from different organizations: Wilders threatens again with cabinet crisis to asylum, plans unattainable according to experts. Later a more extensive report followed, which would also open Tuesday’s paper edition.

There was no sign of the internal dissatisfaction with a lack of speed. Some thought that NRC too much attention to the press conference. Wax NRC Not in the fall of the populist Wilders walked by bringing his (umpteenth) threat prominent? Another: “Why do I have now within 24 hours NRC Read no fewer than four articles about the xenophobic and legally unattainable plans of Wilders (and there will probably be many more)? (…) As far as I am concerned, the political editors had kept it in which it was explained that this is a political trick, that the plans are legally unfeasible, warmed up and xenophobic and then she no longer paid attention to this nonsense. ”

Unique PR event

It is a sound that has been sounding for a year and a half: that of a group of readers who fear that the amount of attention the provocations of populist politicians will receive (in NRCbut certainly also elsewhere) play them in the card. For me, weighs heavily that the articles about Wilders ‘publicity offensive paid a lot of attention to its meaning and to Wilders’ possible motives. It is difficult to ignore a unique PR event of the leader of the largest government party in the form.

And « nonsense » did not turn out to be the performance, although it became clear on Monday evening how much the PVV was on a collision course. In the podcast Haagse Affairs (Last Saturday online) was extensively considered what exactly Wilders could aim: « In a few weeks we can place it fine, » expected political editor Petra de Koning.

So that went a lot faster, which, according to Pim van den Dool, touches on one of the most important complications in reporting. « We have much larger options for other parties to gauge the temperature through party members or employees. There are hardly any possibilities at the PVV, because people hardly talk to the press. » Ultimately it is a one -man party, in which Geert Wilders decides everything. « So you are psychologizing all the time: what could his intention be, what is he focused on? In this case it became clear afterwards that the press conference was intended from the beginning to force a break. While he was on course to get a number of measures. »

What leads to the underlying issue among populist politicians: to what extent is the eternal fuss, which is partly a goal in itself, also a serious attempt at policy, or an attempt to undermine the rule of law? This requires an explanation to the reader, self -reflection and sometimes also some relaxation.

In the meantime, this week it also made clear how much the political developments are dear to the reader. A call yielded more than 250 reader reactions in a few days (a part got the newspaper); A hopeful involvement in the state of the country and that of the newspaper.

Arjen Fortuin

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