While the law states NOS (or rather NPO) has to be independent from government interference reality shows another picture, just like it does in other countries

While the law states NOS (or rather NPO) has to be independent from government interference reality shows another picture, just like it does in other countries - Sweden being a good example. In both cases - NOS in the Netherlands, SVT (Sveriges Television) and SR (Sveriges Radio) in Sweden - these companies have a distinct political signature which is not representative for the public they are supposed to represent. A case study by Kent Asp, professor of journalism at the University of Gothenburg titled "journalistkårens partisympatier' (journalist's party affiliations) [1] clearly shows this in that the majority of journalists working for the public broadcasters identify with two of the parties to the extreme left of the spectrum ('miljöpartiet' (greens) and 'vänsterpartiet' ('left-wing party', they originally called themselves 'vänsterpartiet kommunisterna' (left-wing party communists) but changed their moniker with the fall of the wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union)). While these two parties currently are supported by about 12% of the population at large they garner around 77% of votes among journalists working for the public broadcasters. Add the support for the social democratic party (around 12%, this is actually far lower than the support for that party among the population (around 20%-25%)) and it becomes clear that journalists working for public broadcasters are far more left-leaning than the general population. There are many other sources [2][3] to back up these claims. The situation with the Dutch public broadcaster seems to be slightly different due to the way this institution has grown from formerly independent broadcasters but the results are comparable [4]. So while these public broadcasters are not beholden to corporate interests and not dependent on advertising - they are financed by fees and taxes - they do have other affiliations and as such can not been seen as 'independent'. [1] https://jmg.gu.se/digitalAssets/1284/1284227_nr38.pdf https://jmg.gu.se/digitalAssets/1284/1284227_nr38.pdf [2] https://www.svt.se/opinion/svt-och-sr-dags-att-erkanna-era-partisympatier https://www.svt.se/opinion/svt-och-sr-dags-att-erkanna-era-p... [3] http://magasinetneo.se/okategoriserade/jo-den-svenska-journalistkaren-ar-gron/ http://magasinetneo.se/okategoriserade/jo-den-svenska-journa... [4] https://www.elsevierweekblad.nl/nederland/blog/2017/08/kan-shula-rijxman-npo-een-beetje-dimmen-536249 https://www.elsevierweekblad.nl/nederland/blog/2017/08/kan-s...