4 ms·

I feel like there's disproportionate coverage of Dutch intelligence drama/failures relative to size of the country. I'm assuming this is because their media is

I feel like there's disproportionate coverage of Dutch intelligence drama/failures relative to size of the country. I'm assuming this is because their media is extra transparent or their intelligence extra leaky.

Telluur 3y ago
I think it's rather to do with the fact that the Dutch language corner of the Internet is relatively super small when compared to the other well connected European nations like Germany or France. We tend to mingle with the English language platforms more.
- turquoisevar 3y ago
  Pretty much this. Plus there are a few “news” websites that bother translating Dutch news articles into English for expats and the like. You see this happen less with French or German news, those are typically picked up by bigger US outlets and get drowned out by the plethora of news from the US and global news that is deemed more relevant to the US market.
hcfman 3y ago
There is absolutely not a disproportionate about of news on this. In fact what makes is to the news is just tip of the ice berg. And their media is nothing like transparent. In fact there’s a lot if resistance to printing anything like this. If it gets a little old due to delaying tactics on cover up’s then it’s not printed at all. Even if it’s really damning.
fransje26 3y ago
> I'm assuming this is because their media is extra transparent or their intelligence extra leaky. No, there is nothing extra transparent about the general media in the Netherlands. And because they seem to cater for readers with a short average attention span, the articles are generally short and, unfortunately, too often lacking depth and perspective. As an illustration, the NOS (https://nos.nl https://nos.nl) which has nothing of the quality of, for instance, their German counterparts. (Their cycling, ice-skating and football coverage is excellent though) Also, the modern Dutch are not a nation of philosophers, and that shows in they way they think (or do not think) about problems. This might also explain why these intelligence drama/failures come up more often. They will generally not hesitate a single instant to clearly (for foreigners, it is often felt as "bluntly") tell you what is on their mind, and perhaps some employees didn't hesitate to express loudly the complaints she or he might have had about certain law-braking approaches.

Telluur 3y ago

I think it's rather to do with the fact that the Dutch language corner of the Internet is relatively super small when compared to the other well connected European nations like Germany or France. We tend to mingle with the English language platforms more.

turquoisevar 3y ago
Pretty much this. Plus there are a few “news” websites that bother translating Dutch news articles into English for expats and the like. You see this happen less with French or German news, those are typically picked up by bigger US outlets and get drowned out by the plethora of news from the US and global news that is deemed more relevant to the US market.

hcfman 3y ago

There is absolutely not a disproportionate about of news on this. In fact what makes is to the news is just tip of the ice berg. And their media is nothing like transparent. In fact there’s a lot if resistance to printing anything like this. If it gets a little old due to delaying tactics on cover up’s then it’s not printed at all. Even if it’s really damning.

fransje26 3y ago

> I'm assuming this is because their media is extra transparent or their intelligence extra leaky. No, there is nothing extra transparent about the general media in the Netherlands. And because they seem to cater for readers with a short average attention span, the articles are generally short and, unfortunately, too often lacking depth and perspective. As an illustration, the NOS (https://nos.nl https://nos.nl) which has nothing of the quality of, for instance, their German counterparts. (Their cycling, ice-skating and football coverage is excellent though) Also, the modern Dutch are not a nation of philosophers, and that shows in they way they think (or do not think) about problems. This might also explain why these intelligence drama/failures come up more often. They will generally not hesitate a single instant to clearly (for foreigners, it is often felt as "bluntly") tell you what is on their mind, and perhaps some employees didn't hesitate to express loudly the complaints she or he might have had about certain law-braking approaches.