The blog badnewsfromthenetherlands is an initiative of a strategic consultant from Israel to show that negative media coverage really can harm a country's image.
A blog with only bad news from the Netherlands. Since Curious Orange is devoted to bringing you the updates on this country and its people, one of our colleagues thought this website would be right up our alley. And it was.
|
|
Bad things happen every day
The blog gets its daily 'bad news' updates from Dutch newspapers like NRC Handelsblad, Trouw and De Volkskrant. Gerstenfeld only chooses the articles about negative situations in the Netherlands. They might look like normal news to Dutch citizens, but for someone who doesn't know anything about the country, it certainly doesn't give the most positive view of the Netherlands.
With headlines like 'One third of the Dutch say: A Jew cannot be Prime Minister' and 'Schoolchildren choose Top Criminal as This Year's Most Important Dutchman' no one would think that we are the open-minded country we claim to be.
An eye for an eye?
So does Dr Gerstenfeld want to get even for the "demonised" image of his country? No, he doesn't blame "specifically the Dutch media, but also the Dutch media."
In his words, he simply uses the same methodology as the mainstream media, publishing only the bad news in order to create a negative view of, in his case, the Netherlands, and, as a result, showing the power of the media to present almost anything in whatever light they choose: "People form their judgements on countries on the basis of nothing, just a few elements."
And the Netherlands was just an easy target since the country has a generally positive image and he happens to be reading the newspapers already for his book.
From negative to positive
Without first-hand knowledge it is almost impossible to form an objective idea about what is happening in a country like, for example, Israel. Although Gerstenfeld doesn't think that his blog will change the media coverage of Israel, the (media) attention it has received has already lead to communication experts and psychologists studying the subject.
He says that the site "has exceeded the expectations", and, although he is glad that he can use the negative publicity for a positive purpose, he has "many other alternative ways to spend his time," and wishes that biased media wasn't an issue to begin with.
|
In response to all the reaction we have received on this article and on the Feedback story it prompted (read it here), Dr Gerstenfeld has added the following comments: "It is impossible to correct all the inaccuracies in John Milo's comment without using much space. Therefore two examples may suffice as to his accuracy: 1. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ehud Olmert, Benjamin Netanyahu and Daniel Pipes are not researchers at the JCPA. His accuracy in this matter is zero percent. 2. Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism are not totally identical, but they largely overlap. To quote just one section of the Hamas Charter: "Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah's promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"" And for good order: "Bad News from the Netherlands," is a private blog and not an institutional one." We welcome all comments on Curious Orange - thanks to all the listeners who have written in and thanks to Dr Gerstenfeld for his response. |
Tags: anti-Semitism, bad news, badnewsfromthenetherlands, blog, Israel, Manfred Gerstenfeld, media, newspapers