Jaak Smeets, until 2016 director-publisher at De Persgroep (now DPG Media), was fired at the time after a complaint about transgressive behaviour. This is apparent from a podcast by a media entrepreneur in the Netherlands, reports VRT NWS Saturday. DPG Media confirms the news.
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In October 2016, the then 56-year-old Jaak Smeets decided to close the door at De Persgroep after 21 years. “To slow down a bit,” it sounded then. ‘We are faced with many new digital projects. If Jaak had chosen to lead this one, he would have left again for many years.’
But that message turns out not to be entirely in line with the truth. VRT NWS reports on Saturday that Smeets’ departure was related to transgressive behaviour. This is evident from the podcast The Gygs by Dutch media entrepreneur Yves Gijrath.
DPG Media, the company that was created after the merger of De Persgroep (The Latest News, The Morning, Humo) and Medialaan (VTM), confirms that.
‘Within DPG Media, both in the Netherlands and in Belgium, strict rules apply to cross-border behaviour, long before this became a social theme. When rumors circulated in the Belgian editorial staff in the spring of 2016 that director Jaak Smeets would have committed this after all, the board of DPG Media did not hesitate to appoint an external expert to explain the correct circumstances. it says.
Formal complaint
According to DPG Media, this investigation showed that in the past there had been ‘a number of inappropriate advances, but that these were not of such a nature that they constituted a ground for a complaint’. The expert nevertheless advised that a reprimand was certainly in order. DPG Media has therefore explicitly reprimanded Smeets for this.
In the autumn of 2016, however, DPG Media’s prevention advisor received a formal complaint regarding the same board member. “This complaint has led to the immediate termination of the collaboration with Smeets, without severance pay,” said DPG Media.
Smeets started his career at Smokewas editor-in-chief of . for eight years The last news and afterwards director-publisher at De Persgroep. He was a sort of ‘super editor-in-chief’ who directed the numerous titles and supervised innovation projects, also in the Netherlands.
Those involved asked not to communicate
The commercial media company also emphasizes that the employees involved at the time expressly asked not to communicate about this matter. ‘We respected this question then, and we wish to respect it as much as possible now. After all, we have carefully considered the consequences for all those involved in this case.’
Finally, DPG Media points out that this case took place six years ago. ‘We had then and now we have very clear rules of conduct and our company has a network of professional support and confidential advisers, and very clear protocols to act decisively. Cross-border behavior is not tolerated in any way at DPG Media, and we will do everything we can to prevent such behavior and provide a safe working environment for all our employees.”
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