Anonymous letter criticizes ‘toxic leadership’ at VRT youth editorial staff

The members of the Media Committee in the Flemish Parliament received an email on Thursday in which there were 24 victims of transgressive behavior at the JONG editorial staff of VRT NWS, which, among other things, produces ‘Karrewiet’. The public broadcaster denies the allegations internally.

The email was sent in the run-up to questions to Media Minister Benjamin Dalle about the Bart De Pauw case. The senders are three (former) employees of the public broadcaster, who report at least 24 ‘victims’.

The email mentions toxic leadership, transgressive behavior, favoritism, bullying behavior, fabricated meetings to make big decisions, manipulation, divide-and-conquer politics and discrimination. This is said to be a problem that has been going on for seven years and has also been raised repeatedly.

“We have tried all possible procedures internally at VRT to address a structural problem,” the anonymous employees write in the email that Het Laatste Nieuws published in full. The letter mentions, among other things, complaints to the confidential counselor, a file with the editorial board and the use of internal whistleblowing procedures, in which the Welfare Department was involved. He would have opened an investigation, but the letter writers turned that down. ‘We were shocked by the meager research and the lightness of the conclusion.’

The letter writers conclude from this that their options have been exhausted. “We are at our wits’ end and we hope to be able to sound the alarm bells loudly, but discreetly and serenely,” it said.

On Thursday, the email caused the opposite of what you would call discreet and serene in the Culture, Youth, Sports and Media committee of the Flemish parliament. Several MPs used the letter to fuel the ongoing debate about the De Pauw case – with which the letter writers themselves also draw a parallel.

“The email is intense,” said committee member Stephanie D’Hose (Open VLD). ‘I think it is our duty to address this. This is a boil that has burst open. The fact that we have to hear such stories in this committee worries me enormously.’

‘We are requesting an audit,’ stated committee member Katia Segers (Vooruit). ‘There is currently a culture of fear within the VRT.’

Dalle responded angrily to the interventions: ‘I cannot verify this account. I don’t think it’s appropriate to quote from it and start the debate about it.’ He asked to keep this out of the debate on the De Pauw case.

The editorial staff of VRT NWS denies the allegations in an internal message to its own news editors – which HLN was able to view. The internal email emphasizes that an independent internal investigation has just determined that there was no inappropriate behavior or toxic leadership.

However, the research would have revealed that there are certain ‘working areas’ within the youth editorial team. Examples such as ‘feedback culture and disconnection’ are cited. A step-by-step plan for this is currently being implemented, it says.

In the message, the editor-in-chief expresses its support and confidence to the editorial staff involved and the editorial director.

It is not the first time that the working atmosphere in the VRT newsroom has come under the magnifying glass. Last year, a well-being survey already painted a harsh picture of the working conditions at VRT NWS. A report from the independent preventive medical service Premed then mentioned, among other things, ‘a lack of vision, an ego culture and an unhealthy high workload’.

“We want to tackle the theme of well-being structurally,” information director Liesbet Vrieleman said in a response. ‘Not just in the coming weeks and months, but on an ongoing basis.’ Steps had already been taken to this end, it was said at the time.