“Journalists often think that their view is objective. But a white eye is also coloured. '
Frederike Geerdink. Desiré van den BergJournalism is not impartial, but must change change, control power and stand up for vulnerable groups, journalist Fréderike Geerdink argued in her new book. succeeds in Dutch media are bad, she says. And that has to do with journalists' white glasses.Gijs Beukersis the media reporter for de Volkskrant. He mainly writes about television, podcasts and books.June 22, 2025, 18:21 Published in 2004 Journalism in the Netherlands 1850-2000 — Profession, culture and organization , a book by media historian Huub Wijfjes, celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ). “This also extensively covers historical developments that have shaped the profession. Of course, the Second World War is covered. What was the role of the newspaper, what did that radio station do? ' , says journalist Fréderike Geerdink (55) in a café in Utrecht. But of course more has happened since 1850. “Take the abolition of slavery, decolonization, introduction of women's suffrage,” says Geerdink. “But there's not a word about that in the book. Visibly, none of that has caused anything to all those white men in the newsrooms. That's just weird. ' In her new book All journalism is activism Geerdink argues that the exact objectivity with which journalists try to report is, in reality, white glasses largely ignore the perspectives of marginalized groups. Women are no longer the exception, but people of color are: 95 percent of Dutch journalists were white in 2018, wroteNRC met. That has consequences for reporting. ' Journalists generally see themselves as a tied watchdog,” says Geerdink. “Because she herself is one of the dominant groups in society, they think their view is objective. But of course, white eyes are also coloured. ' In fact, the white eye supports power, says Geerdink. Not by deliberately playing in cahoots with PVV leader Geert Wilders, “but you do play into his hands by keeping twenty microphones under his nose every day. In between, there are hardly any journalists in the Schilderswijk. ' Instead of “supporters of power”, journalists should become “advocates for social change,” says Geerdink. “You could also say: activist.” Through the eyes of the Kurds, her own transformation took place in Turkey and Kurdistan, where she was a freelance correspondent from 2006 to 2020, including for The Independent and The Green Amsterdammer . In December 2011, a bombing by the Turkish Air Force killed 34 people. Fighters of the PKK movement, repeatedly the Turkish government, but research by Geerdink showed that the state knew they were civilians even before the shooting. ' I don't see Turkey through the eyes of the incorporated Kurds,” says Geerdink, who was expelled from the country in 2015 after being arrested with a group of Kurdish activists for trespassing. “And I think I was more journalist than ever when I looked at the world from the point of view of the marginalized group. That made me sharper on power. ' What did you see when you looked at the Netherlands the way you looked at? ' I don't know yet that around 2012 I saw two men wearing a Kick Out Zwarte Piet shirt and thought: what if I look at the Netherlands through their eyes? I started to try that and it wasn't fun. While the Netherlands was the country that I had left because I thought there was not much to get when it comes to journalism, because it would be pretty much finished. I became dazzled by whiteness . ' The media have reported a lot about Kick Out Zwarte Piet, which has achieved great success and is disbanding itself this year. Isn't this the best thing to do quickly? ' Define “fast.” You could say it took thirteen years, but Gerda Havertong addressed the problem as early as 1987. Journalists could have listened to her already. ' In your book, you call the Dutch approach to colonialism and the history of slavery a problematic issue, such as Turkey's handling of the Armenian genocide. Isn't that a bit ridiculous? Turkish historians who incite the Armenian genocide are persecuted and sometimes killed. In the Netherlands, both the prime minister and the king have apologised for the history of slavery, books have been written about it, and there will be a National Slavery Museum. ' I choose my words carefully. I write “similar”, not “equal”. Of course, the Netherlands is not, like Turkey, completely in denial about the colonial past. But we're probably certain of how that still works. ' White journalism still has hardly any roots in Surinamese or Moroccan liquids. At Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv, all the journalists in the stadium were working for a bit. No one noticed that residents of Amsterdam Nieuw-West wouldn't want to accept the fact that Maccabi supporters had sung songs glorifying genocide. By the way, of course, I'm not condoning the fact that random Maccabi supporters were also chased on scooters. 'All journalism is activism , is the title of your book. What do you mean by that? ' I think the purpose of journalism is to influence something. Someone who writes about a dangerous intersection does so to alarm the city council. So a journalist is not impartial, but is on the side of the public interest: she must control power and stand up for vulnerable groups. ' I think a lot of journalists are writing the last sentence. So, in your opinion, are they not complying with their job description? ' Not always. Look at trans people. They belong to one of the most marginalized groups in society. But the amendment to the transgender law has not removed it, also due to a debate on the one hand and the other that is largely being thrown over their carpet. Journalists rarely ask them what they think about it. ' In your book, you write that “many journalistic media” have let themselves be led by “many fact-free conservative forces” in this debate. There are many journalistic media that each report here in their own way. Can you give an example?” Of course, every newspaper or talk show has this conversation differently, and I haven't kept track of exactly how they all do that. I'm also not saying that newspapers should print what trans people say one-on-one, but they should take their perspective seriously. ' I am a white, heterosexual ciswoman. Many stories have no consequences for me. But for marginalized groups, such as trans people in this case, it's about life or death. ' Of course, this also applies to the Palestinians and the coverage of Gaza. A year ago, most media removed that genocide is a legal term and that they therefore wanted to expect a court ruling before using the term itself. A curious argument, because the same media titles before the Holocaust as a genocide and water in Armenia in 1915 have also happened. Quite rightly, of course, but no statement has ever been made about that either — the Genocide Convention only came into force in 1951. ' It seems that the media themselves also found it a strange argument, because although no judge has yet ruled on whether a genocide is underway in Gaza, some media have changed their mind. But that happened a lot in December 2024, while UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese spoke of a genocide as early as April that year. ' The Palestinians raised the alarm much earlier. In November 2023, the analyst and human rights activist Iyad el-Baghdadi already wrote that genocide was inevitable. Also, because I had previously studied genocide, I was immediately convinced. ' Surely you can't just rely on the marginalized group? ' No, I'm not saying that either, I'm just saying you should take that voice seriously. ' What happens when the activist agenda clashes with the journalistic duty to find the truth? ' The truth is most important. If my investigation into the bombing had shown that PKK fighters were among the dead, I would of course have written that down. ' I'm also not advocating for opinions in articles. I don't want to change the journalistic codes, such as the Bordeaux Code — which doesn't include the words “objective” and “impartial”, by the way — I want them to be better complied with. ' What needs to change in the short term? ' Editors must become less white, get different votes. And if they want to report other votes from the perspective of a marginalized group, editors should not immediately say they are activists. ' I know people of color who left journalism in frustration, they hated it there. When they were going to make a story about their own group, she was always told: “Stay objective, eh!” While white people go out every day to report on white people, but of course they never hear that. ' Newspapers should become less of a safe space for white people and more of an advocate for change. Then people with a diverse background will naturally think: hey, that's what I want to read, what's in it de Volkskrant , allegiance whether NRC state. ' You say that journalism should stand on the side of vulnerable groups and the public interest. But who is vulnerable and what is the public interest? There, right-wing and left-wing media will have an opinion about differences. ' Let's say the public interest is the creation of the truth and living up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So let's talk about it's not in the public interest to ban the Quran, close mosques, close borders to asylum seekers, and let more people die in the Mediterranean and North African desert.” Trust in journalism is already ending. Wouldn't it fall further if newspapers were more open to having an agenda? ' That can't help me at all. ' If you write that the Turkish government has done something to the Kurds, people can say: “Yes, but that's what Geerdink writes, she's on the side of the Kurds.” The Kurds don't think that. They think: Damn, finally someone who writes it down as it is. I think that's important. An Erdogan fan dies away because I wrote it, I don't care. I know I'm doing my job, I know my story is right. You write that it's important that journalism leads to change. Isn't it also crucial that it's not just what causes the marginalized group? ' Ultimately, dare I say, my work has ensured that there is much more awareness in the Netherlands about the Kurdish issue. Stories from journalists who are personally involved can have an impact. Also look at the articles from Palestinians who are now in Gaza. ' Isn't it a plus if people know their subject well and have an agenda? Take your health editor, Ellen de Visser, I think that's a very good journalist. She had an excellent story about breast cancer months ago. Why does she write that? Because they believe that women's health care should be better. So that's also activism. ' The journalist Walter Lippmann wrote in 1919 that a journalist “should serve no purpose, no matter how noble”. Do you disagree with that? Laughing: “No, but you see, another white male journalist who doesn't realize that he really serves a purpose.”
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