portfolio journalism & society 2

Media, Informatie en Communicatie

Portfolio Journalism and Society

Daniëlle van der Leest

International Journalism

Docent : Robert Slagt

21 January 2014

Portfolio J&S – Danielle van der Leest 3

Content

Column: Sinterklaas is about the children, not the adults

Review: Manhunt – the real history of Osama Bin Laden

News initiative: Culture in the living rooms of Amsterdam-North

News initiative – extra assignment: Every child has the right to a healthy future

War interview: ‘We walked home together instead’ - war experience on the Dutch East

Indies


1 Sinterklaas is about the children, not the adults

It is a tradition which has existed for ages; Sinterklaas is a celebration in The Netherlands

which takes place on the 5th of December. Other countries such as Germany, Austria, Italy

and Czech Republic celebrate almost the same party. All these places have in common that

the children have to behave well and if so, they get candy or presents. If not, the servants of

Saint Nicolas will punish them.

Many years ago children used to be really scared about what?, but nowadays the story is

taken more lightly. Children see these servants more as the friendly helper of Saint Nicolas.

They even put black make-up on their face to look like them. Although that is also where the

problem starts these days. It is racism when children are trying to be black. Of course it is a

big problem and we have to cancel the party. Like people say every year.

When one of the international students context! asked me about Sinterklaas and what the

discussion in the media is about, I could only say: ‘It is really about nothing.’ The media

make it a huge problem and thereby they are creating a fight between different cultures. The

problem is not anymore about the celebration itself at all. If people find something to

complain about, they will make use of this?. Instead of a discussion about the servants who

are black, they argue about everything else what also is supposed to be racist. Do we have

also have to abolish the delicacy called Jodenkoeken (=Jew cookies) and Negerzoenen

(=Negro kisses) or Blanke vla (white milk pudding)? Yes, because we have to be sure that

other cultures do not feel hurt by it.

When you ask children if they think black people and Zwarte Piet are the same, they will

look at you like if you are crazy. Zwarte Piet is the servant of Saint Nicolas, he is black

because of the fireplace and gives presents when the children are behaving good. This does

not involve black people. Let the celebration be about the children, not about the adults. The

celebration has existed for ages and hopefully always will. If you do not like it, do not

celebrate it. Stop making arguments about it, because it will not make any difference.


2 Manhunt – the real history of Osama Bin Laden

Twenty years of dedication to reach one goal: find Osama Bin Laden, and more importantly,

protect the American citizen from a new terrorist attack. The documentary Manhunt directed

by Greg Barker gives an insight into the investigation on Bin Laden by the CIA and FB. It

shows how many people have spent their lives to save the United States of America. By this

documentary Greg Barker certainly creates more knowledge about Al Qaeda among his

viewers.

Several experienced employees of the CIA and FBI worked for many years on the same

project: to find the leader of Al Qaeda. The documentary shows interviews with for instance

a CIA analyst who explains in detail how they did their work. By giving different people the

chance to speak, Barker creates an overall story by giving way to different sources. This is

why the public will feel connected and learns more about the subject.

Greg Barkers combines the interviews with showing old images and news videos about the

subject back then. Also the interviewees, for example three CIA agents Marty Martin, Nada

Bakos and Cindy Storer describe their stories very good. This ensures that the public is able

to create a representation.

Despite the simple way of filming the interviewees, it is still interesting. No more than a black

background is needed, because you get lots of information and do not want to be distracted

by other things. The film follows the search for Bin Laden in a chronological order, which

makes it easier to understand the story. Also it is structured by a time table you see several

times during the film.

What makes this documentary interesting? It has very exclusive materials by personal

experience of CIA and FBI agents. It tells you about the development of the investigation

through many years. Near the end of the movie the first interview with Osama Bin Laden is

shown. He is asked about his future plans. Osama answers with a shocking response, since

we already know not long after this the first attack on 9/11 of Al Qaeda started: ‘You will see

and hear of them in the media, god willing.’

This documentary creates more understanding among the public. It is definitely interesting

for people who want to get more knowledge on the subject. Furthermore, if you want to

understand what happened before the attack on 9/11. On the other hand Barker leaves the

public with one question: Why is the enemy the enemy and how do you kill an ideology?


3 Culture in the living rooms of Amsterdam-North

For the fourth year in a row the organisation Winters Binnen organises a whole weekend of

free culture in Amsterdam-North. From the 13th

of December to the 15th several

performances are given in different homes, shops, library and cafes. Make yourself at home,

is the main messages the culture festival wants to give to its audience. It is not only for the

residents, but Amsterdam-North is open for everyone.

Storytellers, musicians and theatre directors show in their performance what inspire them in

the daily life. The result is beautiful, funny and touching shows. Different organisations

support Winters Binnen. One of them is Theaterstraat which consist of many creative

people, including Anouke de Groot. She already got an offer to create from abroad, but she

was pleased to help Winters Binnen.

‘It is very nice to help this culture festival, because you’re forced to create outside your

comfort zone. We practiced our play in an unoccupied house which we were allowed to use

from the housing organisation Ymere. You’ve got certainly a different playground then

theatre. It is good to work in a different environment, it gives you inspiration.’

The show called ‘Dagen van Weemoed en Superkrachten’ (Days of Melancholy and

Superpowers) is created by Anouke. As she told, it is shown in an unoccupied house. The

only furniture in the house is some seats for the audience. The play is about a superhero

who wants to fight for a better world. His little bit arrogant attitude and good confidence gives

him the spirit to uses his superpowers for his utopian ideas of how the future has to be.

Great sacrifices are made by him, only do the people really need his help? Eventually a

better world comes from belief in a better future by everyone. ‘I think trust makes a better

world and that is also the big idea behind this festival’, says Anouke. ‘Despite of the

economical crisis we try to inspire people by free culture. We hope to give them some hope

and inspiration. Together in one living room, it is almost like we are at home with one big

family.’

The culture festival gets lots of help from volunteers. Mostly the group consist of people out

of the neighbourhood, but there are also some from Haarlem. Winters Binnen exists mostly

because of goodwill. Ymere makes their unoccupied houses available, Theaterstraat creates

plays for free and there are some drinks and snacks made by the cafe. The winter is cold,

but this festival is certainly heart-warming.


4 Every child has the right to a healthy future

In Amsterdam more than 23 percent of children, with the age 5 to nineteen years, weight too

heavy. For the rest of The Netherlands only 15 percent suffer from obese. The city wants to

change its policy and hope to bring down the number of unhealthy children. They want to

change the food in the cafeterias of schools and give the parents support if needed.

Changes are going slow, dietician Caroline Engelbrecht from the organisation Malnucare

thinks the real problem is in habits of the daily life. That is difficult to change.

Every child has the right to a healthy future. That is why the city created a project called:

‘GA! Voor gezond gewicht’ (GO! For a healthy weight). Their aim is that all the children in

Amsterdam are on a healthy weight by the year 2033, which is an ambitious plan. ‘A goal

like that is very difficult. The project is mainly focused on the schools and not so much on

the parents. When you start at the beginning source, you will prevent it from happening.

When you start with the problem, it will be a little bit better but it will not solve the problem’,

says Caroline.

Caroline gives advice about nutrition in Amsterdam, but also in some other villages. She

really sees a difference between the city and other places. ‘The new policy for healthy

children is based on some factors: bad education, low income and ethnic disparity spread

across the city. Amsterdam is focussing on the neighbourhoods New-West, North en South-

East. Only I think they create even more differences around the city. It not so much of bad

education of the parents. First of all it is culture and you cannot change that easily. So I think

the best you can do is give each parent some information about nutrition when their child is

going to kindergarten. Furthermore some information session ones a year, that will help

eventually. You cannot change this in a few years. It will take some time.’

The city wants the schools in Amsterdam to take more responsibility. They have to act

directly. Money is given to promote healthy nutrition and sufficient sports. The city thinks the

trick is to deal with temptations offered by the current society. To withstand those

temptations, it requires a long term behavioural change. It is a challenge, but if everybody

committed to the project it will succeed eventually.


5 ‘We walked home together instead’ –

war experience on the Dutch East Indies

While The Netherlands was occupied by the Germans, they could not defend their colony

known as the Dutch East Indies. Caroline Schmidt, also called Lola, was born in December

1930 in Jakarta, Indonesia. She just turned twelve when the Japanese Empire occupied

Indonesia. History books tell us the facts of war, only what are the personal experience of

the residents back then?

‘After World War I the Dutch where looking for engineers who wanted to work in Indonesia.

The news about the job offer spread, my father applied for it and got it. He was already

married by that time and moved with my mother to the Dutch East Indies. While my father

worked there as an official for social affairs, my mother gave birth to three daughters: me,

Frieda (1934) and Eveliene (1940).

Just one year after the birth of my youngest sister some rumours went round about a

possible coming war. For our safety we moved from the centre of Jakarta to a house on the

hills. It was just on time, because one year later The Netherlands declared war on Japan.

We got the opportunity to escape to Australia. My father only had to stay because of his job

and my mother wouldn’t leave him. So we stayed in Indonesia.

After a while we moved to a tea-plantation to hide ourselves. We didn’t hear anything of the

Japanese, so we thought we would be save there. We thought wrong. The Japanese found

us and brought us to a detention camp. We stayed in total in three detention camps; my

father was separated from us. The last one was the worst. We stayed there for half a year.

You only got 35 centimetre of personal space. We lived with the four of us on one double

mattress. Everyone got a daily task: my mother and youngest sister had to clean the

showers and toilets. Frieda had to work on the fields and I had to fix leaks on the roof or

other broken things. I liked the roof, because of the view.

After the first nuclear bomb in August 1944 the rules of the detention camp got terrible. For

three days we had to stay inside the room, without food or any water. But soon, after those

awful days, we got the news about the liberation. The end of August my father was there to

pick us up. We didn’t wait for a van. We walked home together instead. Our home was still

intact. As if nothing had happened.


(Just after war, they moved to Australia to build on a new life)

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