A new public broadcasting foundation for Dutch Muslims is in the making. Zenit says it wants to make programmes based on the real world experiences of Dutch Muslims. One of the initiators, Radi Suudi, told the TV current affairs programme Nova that the broadcaster doesn’t plan to air programming discussing Islamic beliefs, and some of the programming will appeal to ’secular as well as religious Muslims’. For instance, there will be a soap opera or a comedy series for the whole family every evening during Ramadan.
The broadcaster will begin the process of recruiting members on 24 September. Under the Dutch system, the number of members the foundation has will determine how many hours a week it is allocated on the public radio and TV channels. The target for Zenit is to have 50,000 paying members by April 2009.
The director of public broadcaster VARA, Vera Keur, thinks this is a ’promising initiative’. VARA is supporting Zenit by offering practical help with the recruitment of members.
(Source: Elsevier/RadioFreak.nl)
on Sep 14th, 2008 at 21:47
Is this a controversial issue ?
Many people in the Netherlands have had enough of immigration, with much tougher laws having resulted.
I can imagine that if this annoys some Dutchmen, politicians such as Geert Wilders of the Vrijheid Partij may have something to say; indeed, he may be rubbing his hands in glee because this could play right into them.
on Sep 15th, 2008 at 08:19
I don’t see why this should be a controversial issue, but it was only announced a few days ago so Mr Wilders hasn’t had time to react yet. There is already a Muslim public broadcaster in the Netherlands, but it focuses more on religious issues. Zenit plans a more secular format. I would have thought that Mr Wilders would welcome that. But first it has to attract enough members to qualify for airtime.
on Sep 16th, 2008 at 14:06
I think EU needs a Pan European Secular/Islamic broadcaster. I’m not sure what French public broadcaster does? France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, about 5 million I think?