Press pestering

FROM THE BOARD

At the last moment, creeping our way through the character and content of negotiation, we get the feeling that the culture of my chosen successor is not a good 'match' for our organisation.

Discussions are closed. Having decided to continue as President/CEO for the time being, I go back to my normal work. But then... a telephone call from the Volkskrant (a leading Dutch daily newspaper). The voice asks Keejet, if it is true that I am stepping-down as President/CEO.

Now, that is not so.

Gee, I ponder, how can a rumor or suspicion about my possible change of function, become news in a national daily? Well, Keejet tells 'the voice' that the report is incorrect, and that's the end of it...

Or so we thought. Certainly, as far as I was concerned, because the Volkskrant is a newspaper with a good name and reputation. But, alas.

Friday night - half-past one in the morning - I'm in my first deep sleep, and the phone rings. It's Birgitta from PR/CC. She'd just had a call from Jurriaan Kamp (NRC, another leading newspaper), who tells her the Volkskrant will be publishing an article next day, reporting my stepping-down. Worse than that, it was already being printed! Birgitta suggested, I should phone Jurriaan at once.

Well, if it was already being printed, there was little we could do ... Perhaps, a Molotov cocktail through the printer's window. But to start making phone calls with my sleepy head, wasn't really on the cards!

For now, back safely under the duvet, rectification could wait until tomorrow. On Monday in the office, we'll look at it again. Slowly but surely the sweet rest from - in my eyes - a well earned sleep after a busy week floods over me.

Until, as if shaken by a passing angel, I sit bolt upright in a cold sweat. Suddenly, I think...the Volkskrant is read not only by clients and others outside of Holland but, by BSO'ers and Originals, and by their families and friends.

The true measure of the disaster now entered my sleepy head. What a catastrophe. The telephone won't stop ringing tomorrow. I'm sick to the teeth.

All those BSO'ers just won't know what's going on!

First the report, then the anger, because I'd failed to inform them about the rumor or the rectification. All this intermingled with the information and non- information circulating on the corridor grapevine. Then, I thought, I can't sit up all night ... so I lay down again. After all, only two are involved up to now. Birgitta will almost certainly still be up. In the middle of the night there's nothing we can do. But, until morning light, real sleep was a fleeting experience.

That Saturday must have been a peak day for PTT communications. Both my lines were red-hot. The same for Birgitta. It was difficult for us to make contact. And, I guess, we weren't the only BSO'ers phoning each other!

We decided to invite a friendly journalist for an interview. The idea was to give the correct message to one of Holland's most important publications.

We took him into our confidence in complete faith. I had a good talk with him, and he promised to send his final text for our approval.

In the evening, at home, I got his fax and phoned him about certain inaccuracies. He refused to adjust his copy to the truth. He said, he had 'his sources' and 'other information'.

I almost jumped out of my skin with surprise, when I found his sources were of the "Stan Huygens" and "Prive" quality He still refused to change his copy.

In my mind, I buried forever, one of the last journalists I could rely on for journalistic integrity.

I am now gently becoming myself again ... back into my skin!

Eckart Wintzen

* "Prive" - a semi-scandal, sensation-seeking magazine.