Page 233 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

222 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

(NRC Handelsblad, 8 August 1975)

In the mid-1970s the appointment of a new executive producer led to a
shift from story journalism to ‘information’ journalism. Under the new
regime the Journaal would be no longer guided by the availability of
interesting moving pictures: ‘We will not do news that is fun to watch
any more’, the new producer said as he took the job (Haagse Post,
February 1975). Instead the focus would be on politically and socially
important issues.
Although the introduction of the autocue system made a more
intimate mode of address possible, enabling the semblance of face-to-
face conversation between newsreader and audience, the newsreader
had to remain as detached, uninvolved and blank as possible, because
the aura of objectivity had to be maintained. The Journaal acquired a
reputation of being serious and objective but a little dull and
uninteresting to watch.
In 1985 a new editor-in-chief was appointed, a former correspondent
for the Journaal in Great Britain, Peter Brusse. He wanted to change the
news into a popular television programme with natural transitions; into
‘more than a dull listing of events’. The news should offer audiences
opportunities to identify with events and personalities. Human interest
stories therefore had to be a major ingredient of the news and
newsreaders were urged to transform their serious mode of address into
a more personal and intimate style:

Presenters should be more than people who merely read the news.
They must inspire confidence. You must be able to trust them like
you trust the neighbour next door, who is familiar to you and who
keeps an eye on things while you are away. An authoritative
person like Walter Cronkite, who explains which assaults are
important and why.
(NRC Handelsblad, 2 February 1987)

Brusse became subject to heavy criticism from his own staff and from
fellow journalists, especially from the print media. His attempt ‘to make
news entertaining by a light and populist appeal’ was looked upon with
contempt. His two-year regime was later characterized as a ‘reckless
period of experiments and failures’ (Parool, 1 January 1988). He left
the Journaal quite soon, disappointed with the possibilities of changing
it. However, Brusse’s efforts paved the way for his successor who