‘De Volkskrant’ may fire literary critic Arjan Peters. A judge has decided that. The journalist is not guilty of transgressive behavior, but is responsible for the disrupted working relationship with the newspaper.
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The journalist was put on hold in May, but de Volkskrant did not want to disclose on what grounds that decision was taken. An internal investigation was underway and he would seek personal contact with writers before writing a review. On March 4, writer Maartje Wortel shared that a friend received a message from ‘an authoritative reviewer’: ‘I’m going to review you, shall we have lunch tomorrow?’
“It is clear that this is not about MeToo behavior,” said the Amsterdam subdistrict court. ‘That is not what publisher DPG Media blames him for. Nevertheless, this behavior is not in accordance with the prevailing standards, given his role as a literary critic for a major national newspaper and the position of power it has in the literary world. ‘
Peters has been writing for the newspaper for 28 years and was hired 16 years ago. The court ruled that the employment relationship was ‘seriously and permanently disrupted’ because ‘the editor-in-chief has completely lost confidence in him’. DPG Media has to pay him a severance payment of 32,000 euros, the contract will be dissolved on 1 December. Peters leaves to the press agency ANP know how to appeal against the judgment.
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