Taco Zimmerman has worked in the TV world his entire life. He started at Radio Veronica when he was fifteen, worked for many years as a producer on programs for the NPO and since March 1st he has been the general manager of AVROTROS. A conversation about the right to exist, the recognizability of AVROTROS and employers.
Shortly after his appointment, the situation surrounding Joost Klein during the Eurovision Song Contest was the baptism of fire in his new role. We speak to Taco about the developments in the world of television during his career and do not avoid the heavier subjects.
Podcast Reputation Inside
Organizations with a high reputation value have the trust and preference of all their stakeholders. A high reputation value ensures, among other things, more and loyal customers, a desirable position on the labor market and proud employees. Organizations that focus on this value achieve a high social and financial return. How does that work in practice? What role does the reputation of organizations play with CEOs?
Reputatie Inside provides insight into reputation issues in Dutch government in this three-weekly podcast. In each episode (25 min), podcast host Stef Heutink questions CEOs and professionals about this.
Right to exist
At the beginning of this century, the big question was how to reach your audience in such a fragmented media landscape. With the rise of YouTube, among other things, it was predicted that fifteen years later no one would watch regular television anymore. Taco then stated that twenty years later 2 million people would still watch the news. And he was right. “No medium has ever disappeared with the rise of a new medium,” he rightly says. At the same time, fewer and fewer people watch television linearly, and that line is declining rapidly.
Podcasts, on the other hand, have really taken off. “That could be because people seem to be sitting less, podcasts are easy to listen to while doing something else, like running, vacuuming or driving.”
It is a turn that the program Zomergasten may have missed, such conversations also lend themselves perfectly to a podcast. On the other hand, a program like B&B Vol Liefde is very suitable for TV. It is cleverly made, and it does not matter whether it is watched linearly or on Videoland.
Quit playing football
The current political climate poses major challenges for public broadcasting, where 10% of the budget is being cut due to budget cuts. This will be at the expense of programming, says Taco. “We can’t keep on cutting corners, but will have to consider rigorous measures. For example, is it necessary for football to remain with public broadcasting, while a commercial broadcaster could broadcast it just as well?” He does think that news should remain with NOS. “That is a core task of public broadcasting.”
Taco sees the fact that election debates are now shown on multiple channels as a positive development, with each channel clearly shaping this in its own way. “It is not inconceivable that part of the PVV’s gain is due to this, that is how media and democracy work.” He also indicates that it is important that we do not end up in an American model, with 2 large networks that are diametrically opposed, such as CNN (left) and FOX (right).
Employership
We cannot ignore the role of the broadcaster as an employer, given the many incidents in the TV world in recent times. In TV it was common to work with a lot of temporary contracts, which created uncertainty among employees. They were then careful not to criticize, because then they would no longer have a job. How do you ensure a safer working environment?
Taco: ‘BOOS (incidentally, a YouTube program that was viewed 11 million times) opened a terrible book. We have created monsters here. The subject is very high on the agenda in Hilversum. For example, 80% of all temporary contracts must be converted into permanent positions. But we must also realize that this is really a cultural change and that it will therefore take a very long time. Van Rijn states in his report rightly so: behave normally!”
AVROTROS recognition
Is the broadcaster sufficiently recognizable? Taco states that they are working hard on further cooperation within the NPO, it must be clearer and it can be more pluralistic. “We stand for culture, culture connects and that is important to us in these times of polarization. That internal cooperation will really take shape within 6 months, so we will experience that. For AVROTROS, it is allowed to show a bit more bravado. The start of Jinek early in the evening is a good example of that.”
AVROTROS must really become a club again.
Listen to the Reputation Inside podcast with Taco here via iTunes, Soundcloud of below via Spotify:
Source: www.frankwatching.com
