D66 and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs interfered extensively with the editing of the VPRO documentarydocument Sigrid Kaag: from Beirut to Binnenhof. Some of the requests were honored by the makers. This is apparent from 200 pages of documents about the creation of the documentary about the D66 leader, which the GeenStijl weblog received through a WOB procedure from a reader.
The papers show that the makers of the documentary largely met Kaag. For example, she would have been allowed to choose the theme (a journey, a policy topic) with which she wanted to portray. Kaag would have been allowed to make suggestions for the image editing and to have consulted about the time of broadcast.
In the documents, in an email on March 26, 2018, an employee informed Kaag of the ongoing conversations with the documentary makers about making a portrait:
“Both are open to suggestions from us for the theme they want to portray you on. In fact, they expect us to provide input for a policy topic and/or a journey that lends itself to a documentary (where some tension and visualization is important) )”, the email reads. “Both (..) and (..) are willing to give us insight into the editing prior to broadcasting, so that we can make suggestions (= something other than final editing). They are also willing to discuss the time of broadcasting (before or after the election, for example).”
Followed for five years
The documentary was first broadcast on January 3, 2021, two and a half months before the elections to the House of Representatives. The maker had followed Kaag for five years, so also in the period when she was not yet a leader of her party.
According to the VPRO, the film was “really independent and critically produced”. “I fully support that,” says editor-in-chief Stan van Engelen of the broadcaster. “The maker made the film the way she wanted to make it.”
broadcast moment
Van Engelen says that it is “pertinently incorrect” that a broadcast time was sought together with Kaag. “That is suggested in the WOB documents by an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I really have to leave that to him or her. There has never been any correspondence about this, and there is no question of that. We have a broadcasting time in consultation with NPO 2. determined.”
According to Van Engelen, the film was finished in December, after which a search was made with the NPO for a broadcast moment. That was finally on January 3. “That was far enough away from the actual start of the campaign,” he says. “But you don’t want to leave it on the shelf for months either.”
‘No veto’
Kaag was mainly followed in her position of Minister for Foreign Trade. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has not had a ‘veto’ over what was broadcast, but that certain agreements could be made “in close consultation” about the final editing.
“The agreement to discuss the images before broadcasting is not unusual with such a long production. Compare it to authorizing a longer interview with a newspaper,” says a spokesperson. “Certainly if you let a camera crew watch behind the scenes for a longer period of time, you do not want to run the risk of factual inaccuracies or that confidential matters become public.”
No seat belt and champagne
Among other things, the ministry made a comment about the fragment in which Kaag was not wearing a seat belt. But that was ultimately not removed from the documentary. “The maker has said: that scene will not be removed. We think it is an important scene for the film,” says editor-in-chief Van Engelen. The ministry and D66 also asked to adapt or omit a shot in which Kaag is received with champagne during a working visit in Niger.
“Images of the budget treatment have been adjusted at our request,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Kaag.
Party leader
At the end of 2020, Minister Slob (Media) replied to parliamentary questions from PVV MP Bosma: “D66 has had no involvement with or influence on the documentary.” The documents show that the party did become involved in the documentary. That happened when Kaag nominated himself as party leader in 2020. “The documentary makers asked us to also follow her as a candidate for party leader,” says the spokesperson for D66.
“We have allowed that, with the same agreement as the makers had already made with the ministry in 2018. That agreement was: the makers can film everything, independently and with the editorial freedom that goes with it.”
D66 was also allowed to see the end result before broadcasting, with a view to any factual inaccuracies, “excessively privacy-sensitive passages” and any other comments, the party says. D66 also says that the final verdict lay with the makers.
Viewing
VPRO editor-in-chief Van Engelen points out that such a ‘viewing’ is very common. “That was about three days before the final editing, the film was really far finished by then,” he says. Kaag’s employees then came up with a long list of requests, but according to the VPRO those wishes were “not implemented one-on-one”.
“The maker and producer looked at this carefully. And then adjustments were made to the film based on a number of wishes, without harming the content,” says Van Engelen.