Media watchdog CvdM cannot properly assess the social safety at AVROTROS without the research reports from AVROTROS. The supervisor warns about this on Tuesday. The Utrecht court ruled on Monday that the broadcaster does not have to provide access to two confidential reports.
Without the research reports, the Media Authority (CvdM) says it cannot sufficiently assess whether AVROTROS has a complete picture of “the extent and underlying causes of risks in the area of governance, behavior and culture within the broadcaster.” Governance is the way an organization is organized and managed.
The supervisor also cannot assess whether the plan of action is suitable for “solving possible underlying problems at the broadcaster.”
AVROTROS refused access to the reports because the broadcaster had promised the employees that the documents would not fall into other hands. “We think it is important to keep that agreement. If we hand it over, we have no control over where it could end up,” a spokesperson told NU.nl earlier.
Both internal investigations were carried out in 2023 by an external party on behalf of the supervisory board of AVROTROS. The broadcaster has shared the recommendations from the reports with the CvdM. But the supervisor is not satisfied with this.
The judge did not answer the question whether the Media Authority is even authorized to view the reports. That question must be answered in a complaint procedure that is currently pending at the media watchdog. The CvdM further states that it will “carefully study” the court ruling.