5 lessons from a Tilburg riot: superficial newspaper determines superficial cultural politics

Regional newspapers hardly do any real cultural journalism anymore. We know this, because it was the reason why we Culture Press once founded have. How bad things are now, five years later, with art in the region and the way the newspaper handles it, was evident this month in Tilburg. A local journalist from the Brabants Dagblad had a piece of written about questions raised by a state member of the PVV in the province. In the news story, this former sports journalist approvingly qualified the questions as "clear".

It was about subsidy for a music workshop, which the PVV man obviously thought was unjustified, and the journalist agreed with the questioner. He suspected That the music was 'branch noise'. Suspected, indeed. Because he hadn't checked that himself.

This led to outrage in the local cultural sector. It culminated in a riot that took place mostly online, with the newspaper, as usual, not responding. Until a week later, when the director of the controversial Music lab single facts was allowed to set the record straight. facts that in an ideal country would of course have been checked by the newspaper at the first report. So peace was not restored with that. Although no apology was offered in the newspaper, Tilburg chief of the Brabants Dagblad Anita De Haas did her best to make the case debunken in a local talk show.

[Tweet "Journalist suspected music was 'branch noise'. He had not checked that himself."]

Thanks to our friends on facebook, we have an audio recording of the debate, in which at some point it becomes clear that the newspaper is unhappy with the earlier article (at 14 minutes). It is, the manager explains, because the workload is so high and because the journalist in question does not actually know the arts sector, but he has to write about everything because he is the only one on the editorial staff. But also because he is actually a sports journalist: "He has just started a course in art history."

This does clearly outline the problem of art, local media and government. Five steps to the abyss:

1: The once authoritative local media have lost their old constituencies in a race to hunt down the non-reading, often populist-voting urban dweller.

2: Among readers of local newspapers, there are hardly any art lovers left as a result.

3: Art and culture are therefore no longer written about by reporters with expertise, but by people who speak the language of the desired reader, now mostly to be found in the populist corner.

4: Local administrators, who usually still rely on that local newspaper for art knowledge, lack background information and interpretation on what is happening in the local arts sector.

5: What is unknown becomes in times of need cut away.

[Tweet "This does clarify the problem of arts, local media and government. Five steps to the abyss:"]

Incidentally, these developments are not only taking place in 'the region'. National newspapers too wrestling with their arts coverage. I myself have heard the Brabants Dagblad's statement on this more than once, at least on other editorial boards: "If it were up to reader surveys, we would have stopped doing arts and culture 20 years ago".

The whole conversation:

listen here.

As the sound quality is poor, here is another transcription of the recording, courtesy of Koen Luijk of the Tilburg Incubate festival.

'Then we would have actually stopped doing arts and culture 20 years ago.'

Toine van Corven opens

 

Welcome to everyone sitting at the bar tables here

Anita de Haas, chief Tilburg +,

Rinus van der Heijden: former arts editor Brabants Dagblad,

Joost Heijthuijsen director of Incubate.

 

Talking about including culture

 

The reason is both the unorthodox way in which the art editor of the Brabants Dagblad operates, where social media, among other things, argues that not everyone is happy about it. We invited that arts editor, Henri van der Steen, to have his say. He had agreed but due to problems with the editor-in-chief he could not. Fortunately, his boss is there, Anita de Haas chief city editor.

 

Toine van Corven: Welcome, why is Henri not here?

Anita de Haas: Is it okay if I can just explain something? First of all, I very much get the impression that it is about the person, rather than the ???? And I think the ???

Toine van Corven: He did initially commit and after consulting with higher ... there is no ban to be here?

Anita de Haas: No, absolutely not. There is no ban at all. I think he could do it very well himself but I think it's better if I do it.

Toine van Corven: ... about the word 'smear campaign'. It would have been said in the newspaper that we won't let it happen that someone is killed off or that a smear campaign is launched against Mr van der Steen. There you would have as a thought ... that this is happening. ...

Anita de Haas: If it was read on social media if he was coming it was 1 against 120 then I ... don't need to say any more. 1 against 120 men, then it won't be cosy, will it?

Toine van Corven: Someone said that on social media?

Anita de Haas: Yes

Toine van Corven: We won't discuss that further, I mean: It's social media

Anita de Haas: But in the last two weeks it seems that has taken on a bit of a life of its own. It doesn't seem sensible to me, I also don't understand why that happens in the cultural sector at all actually. From that I drew the conclusion that ...

Man in audience: Toine, what's up with Henri van der Steen?
Toine van Corven: I just introduced that there are different opinions about the way culture is written about and about what interests him in culture in the Brabants Dagblad and that particularly on social media a discussion arose about that when he was invited to come here and he initially said, "Yes, I do" and that with Anita it was decided not to do that.

Man in audience: But is Henri van der Steen the beaten dog here then?
Anita de Haas: Yes, that's basically what it comes down to. But let's agree, as I just said: We're not going to do a performance review here. We are going to talk about policy and how we try to do things as best ???

Toine van Corven: We are really moving on now. We have here at the table Joost Heijthuijsen, you've been rather dismissive on social media of the art coverage in the Brabants Dagblad. What is your main point of criticism, and please include a concrete example.

Joost Heijthuijsen: My main point of criticism is that I think a regional newspaper in particular ideally brings readers closer to society and society closer to their readers. But that precisely in the area of cultural reporting, you see that elementary forms of journalism and also elementary forms of moving within society are ignored. And with that, at least in the area of cultural reporting, the newspaper loses a large part of its authority in that which I think is important in a newspaper.

Toine van Corven: That cries out for a concrete example.

Joost Heijthuijsen: The queen, or Princess Beatrix, coming to Tilburg for the Gipsy Festival. And, in doing so, thinks the criminality of Roma and Sinti is 'a major problem of a minor population group'. That would be world news because Princess Beatrix has never had an opinion until now. And after that so "Where did you get that information?"

Toine van Corven: Is this really an interview with the princess, then the queen? And who has world news so it is put in the newspaper?

Joost Heijthuijsen: It's in the paper, so it's true.

Toine van Corven: (to Anita de Haas) Not true?

Anita de Haas: Well I have the article with me because I happened to have spoken to Joost earlier and we were talking about it then too. And I can start reading it here, I'll put it on the bar later and then everyone can read that Joost is making a completely unjustified allegation against us.

Toine van Corven: So it was not put forward as a quote or as fact?

Anita de Haas: No, he has spoken to someone who is also a graduate student on that issue who has spoken together with seven other people on the course and he has informed him that they are concerned in that conversation about the position of Roma. And he has also quoted that neatly and he also mentions in the story from whom he got that and who said that and why he is so concerned about that, and it is completely unjustified to label that as misinformation.

Toine van Corven: Just in between. As a journalist, if you quote someone second-hand about something like this that is not true, what the Queen of Roma thinks, you do have a duty to check.

Anita de Haas: Not just second-hand, he talked to someone who was very knowledgeable about that, he describes that in the story too. And he says no more in the story than 'the queen has said she is worried'. I will put it up there later and then everyone can read it and I don't think it is a justified allegation.

Toine van Corven: Not a valid allegation, Joost.

Joost Heijthuijsen: I think one of the basic rules that you learn at journalism school in the first year is that the queen never has an opinion, nor should you ever directly quote the opinion of anyone from the royal house. Therefore, I am not just talking about journalism...

Anita de Haas: He's not quoting her, he's quoting the person who did the ...

Joost Heijthuijsen: But about the social rules that a newspaper complies with, and if you look at last week's social rules in which a piece about theatres tilburg contains seven mailleure errors, where instead of Ellen ten Damme's performance, the circus performance is confused. And so six more of these other things.

Toine van Corven: A piece was written by Henri pointing out some errors. That appeared on Facebook. I thought that was also ... to say that there were major errors in it, I think that's a bit strong-willed

Anita de Haas: I do want to respond to that. Anyone can always call, write or email me if they disagree with an article or if there is an error in the paper. If our arts editors made a lot of mistakes we would have a lot of rectifications. If that were the case, I would have had the rotten(?)editors on my neck for a long time asking how come you make so many mistakes because you have to rectify so much. Because we do it, but we don't like doing it. So everyone times when something is not right or when people disagree with something, and our art editors are pre-eminently the ones who always let everyone read everything interviewed, so never a problem. If things are not right, they should email me about it and not sit around saving them all up and sharing them with each other. No, they should share it with me.

Toine van Corven: There is significant criticism than Henri often opts for a secondary designation. This is called a side note, private life of an artist, a money issue. Then that produces a story, journalistically that's fine. But often he is not thanked and it would even distract from what it is supposed to be about, which is the subject matter.

Anita de Haas: We are not cultural management. We try to bring culture and art in the city in an accessible and nice way for our readers in the newspaper and on the internet. I think our arts editors, someone from outside Tilburg, are able to look at it with a lot of wonder and enthusiasm. That ??? to always write down more things, ultimately it's about getting the reader to see what you actually want to tell and the reader to see what you want to show what's happening in the city. And then it's about all kinds of developments but also about existing artistic expressions that you name again. As for me, I do like a bit of a scintillating way of writing things down.

Toine van Corven: Find it strange when a sports reporter is a culture buff. Well Henri comes from sports...

Anita de Haas: I also came from a completely different discipline than journalism; I was an economics teacher for thirteen years. So that doesn't say anything at all, on the contrary, it says that the profession is so beautiful that when you take things to you that when you get into it, when you get into it, that you can start writing about completely different things and also with a lot of knowledge.

Toine van Corven: So it was chosen to write about art in a different way than before. I note that this was a policy choice? That means that how it was before was either less, or at least different. Rinus, if new policy is chosen you could conclude that it was not going well?

RvdH: No, it is not going well. It is Brabants Dagblad's own thing to change the policy every two years. I don't think that has anything to do with the policy as we dealt with the art.

Anita de Haas: That has to do with the economy, among other things.

RvdH: Of course it has to do with the economy. When Henri writes that the Music Lab is presumably, he doesn't even know, making branch noise, you guys have to step in.

Anita de Haas: Now let's not argue about this one bit, that bit is somewhat unfortunate and was meant to be ironic.

Joost Heijthuijsen: Since when is such a thing ironic? I think it's an important point. I learned in the journalism textbook that you have a difference between news, opinion, background and column. That you just separate those. If in those news pages, suddenly note subjective terms are put in the mouths of politicians, which are not even from the mouths of those politicians, then I think that is bad. That has to do with the editorial choices being made. Imagine a science journalist suddenly saying on the basis of his own opinion that E=MC2 is also just an opinion. Journalism is also goon facts. Is you hje behave in society.

Toine van Corven: There are journalistic gen res mixed in. That is a point of criticism.

Rinus van der Heijden: May I just finish my story. Everyone can say anything, so I also want to say anything.

Toine van Corven: You can say anything too.

Rinus van der Heijden: It's not about that, but I hadn't finished. He interviews a woman who was made a member of the Order of Orange Nassau, and it's not about her merits at all, but about a trip to Tokyo. He interviews and cellist and takes a photo with her. Is that supposed to represent new journalism? Shame on me.

Person: I want to say something about that. That cellist, dart I happened to see an op[performance of that, and the point of that whole performance as that you could hold that cello and feel those vibrations, even with her.

Anita: It doesn't make much sense to start discussing piece by piece. Because I said: we are not going to have a performance review here. That makes no sense, besides, there has been a multitude of articles published in recent years, more like three hundred under one name alone. That's a huge diversity, and it already ranges from literature, to culture, to all kinds of festivals. Jacques can say: I'm on my own, but that has only grown. What he has to do on top of it all. And then also have to operate our internet site. You have art pages art of the day and the site. If you have to make all that.

Toine van Corven: So it is very busy. Now a question to the audience: do you think everything he writes is bad, or do you think some perspectives are also good?

Joost Heijthuijsen: I never think hard work is an excuse.

Toine van Corven: That was not the question either.

Joost Heijthuijsen: But it is a response. Of course I appreciate people who work hard, but it's also about facts.

Anita de Haas: I learned with journalism that it is blood, sweat and tears. But that's good too, because with that hard work, you come into contact with all aspects of art and culture in this city.

Joost Heijthuisen: But surely I can assume that he writes professionally. If you are a butcher, and you chop off a few fingers every day, because you still have to learn fall, that is not the way you work either, is it? I expect a newspaper to take its responsibility within the social field. And if it knows how to keep fact and fiction apart from that and also handles it responsibly. And that goes beyond: someone works hard and mistakes are made. I don't think that's taking responsibility enough. You shouldn't let someone who says in a council meeting that he doesn't understand it all play around like that.

Anita de Haas: I won't let anyone flounder. I disagree. It is also a learning process for us. There are journalists you have to push to write their own story for once, and there are journalists who are very happy to write their own story.

Toine van Corven: It does get mixed up. That's what it's about.

Anita de Haas: The mere fact that we do so much about arts and culture in this city and region shows: we do a lot. Of the 52 pages we have in the week for the region, at least eight are about arts and culture. This is where we take our social responsibility. If you start doing reader surveys, we would actually have stopped doing arts and culture 20 years ago. So we don't do that. We think it is important.

Toine van Corven: I still go back to the question I just asked: is everything bad that happens, or is there some good too?

Voice: I strongly object to the way the Brabants Dagblad does art coverage.

Toine van Corven: your real key point?

Voice: Expertise. They make Henri write about things he knows nothing about. That he is studying now, art history or whatever, fine, but he should have done that earlier. You have to know what you're getting into when you write about culture.

Anita de Haas: That is nonsense. Our economics editor is not an economist either. And if you talk to young artists here in town: some you talk to again in 10 years, others in 30 years.

Voice: He did not attend any performances at all, he did not listen to any records, he just transcribed the council question.

Anita de Haas: He has to write about other things too. He can't see everything. We don't have that luxury position. One more thing: as editors, we also have literature reviewers that we use for specific things. Because we realise that we can't do much more in that area either, budget-wise.

Toine van Corven: So it is policy that subject knowledge is not required.

Anita de Haas: Subject knowledge does matter, but you have to give people a chance to gain that subject knowledge.

Toine van Corven: but then shouldn't they acquire that knowledge first, and only then publish?

Anita de Haas: but we can't leave that vacancy open for a year, can we?

Toine van Corven: We are moving on to the national trend. National newspapers used to write about all the subsidised offerings. With a review. That was a tacit agreement with the newspaper. There is no more budget for that. So now it's still about what's big, hot, new. Anita: What are the criteria at the Brabants Dagblad? Where do you go, where don't you go?

Anita de Haas: Indeed, we don't go to everything. What we do try to follow is new developments. Experimental art, which is what De Pont in particular has built up. Big criterion with us is: what people need. What people are drawn to in large numbers. Whether that's exhibitions or festivals: those are things we have to do anyway. And beyond that, we try to be present as much as possible where the discussion is. Where we can write about, and where we can share with our readers. That covers the whole spectrum of culture. Even when a new book comes out, we want to discuss it.

Toine van Corven: But is there a set policy?

Anita de Haas: That policy is that we try to include everything we can in our paper as much as possible. Amateur art? We don't do that, for example. Although we used to have reviews, but that was because at some point we had too many reviews of amateur art. That was a policy intervention. But other than that, we very much live by the agenda. It's about what there is to do in the city, which is already a lot.

Joost Heijthuijsen: I think that especially in times of social media, that a newspaper is not everywhere, but adds value. If there are new concerts in town I can also read that on 3voor12, I can also read that in other places. I think a newspaper should be authoritative. But now that is on a complainer level than citizen journalism. I see pieces by students on 3voor12 that are much better and more in-depth than what's in the newspaper. And then you can say that your readers have no interest in that, but you see that culture lives on social media, don't you? The side follows public opinion, but also deals with it in a very defensive way. Now try dealing with that in an offensive way, to speak in football terms. Don't say you know what Tilburgers think is right, but try to get used to this new social reality.

 

Anita de Haas: I don't want to dig my heels in. And when it comes to social media: we have on our site the city poem, where you can see on a map exactly where the poem came from. We do a lot of calendar announcements, including on social media We invest in a lot of areas. But I have also sometimes said: if we are so tight on budget, why not let the people who go to those performances write their own reviews? Then you also have expertise. Because you think everyone should have expertise. And so do you. (Rumour)

There were times, of course, when you had a different reviewer for each discipline. Sorry. So that's really not possible any more.

Toine van Corven: We are also talking about a picture of the times. I see across the board a shift towards human interest. Is that also the case with you guys?

Anita de Haas: I notice that since we have been writing about arts and culture in this city in a different way, it is being read much more than before.

Toine van Corven v Rinus van der Heijden: You are against popularisation?

Rinus van der Heijden: Yes, of course I am against popularisation. The whole society is already popularised and generalised. It's about expertise. That you know what you are writing about. If the editor-in-chief says: all specialists should leave the paper, we will only work with generalists.

Anita de Haas: We are forced to work with a lot of generalists. That's just the zeitgeist. My opinion on that is that we are doing a damn good job.