The NOS logo can no longer be seen on the satellite cars with which employees of the broadcaster drive through the country. The broadcaster decided to do so, because its journalists and technicians are intimidated and threatened almost daily, the NOS reported in a statement on Thursday.
The NOS logo can no longer be seen on the satellite cars with which employees of the broadcaster drive through the country. The broadcaster decided to do so, because its journalists and technicians are intimidated and threatened almost every day, the NOS reported in a statement on Thursday.
According to the NOS, employees have to deal with, among other things, raised middle fingers and verbal abuse. They are also pelted with waste or cut off or blocked on the road. For some time now, reporters have stopped going to events without surveillance.
The announcement follows a discussion that has taken place internally in recent months. Editor-in-chief of NOS News Marcel Gelauff says that the intimidations were initially dismissed as incidents, but that things are now structurally not going well.
Although the employees did not want the logo removed because of “recognisability and pride in the company they work for”, this will now happen to ensure their safety.
Gelauff speaks in the statement of a “defeat for the NOS, but especially for journalism”. “Journalism is under attack from people and groups who only want to see their own world again, try to make every other perspective impossible and thus erode freedom of the press.”