Minister given permission to axe far-right TV broadcaster

The Netherlands’ media minister, Rianne Letschert, has obtained the legal authority to strip the far-right broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland (ON) of its licence, meaning it could be taken off air from public broadcasting and lose its public funding.

The Dutch media authority set out a case in a letter to Letschert, weeks after ON presenters spoke of their approval and agreements with certain Adolf Hitler remarks in a July broadcast.

It called the show a turning point and said it no longer trusted ON to run its operations properly.

Letschert has said a licence can only be withdrawn once two formal sanctions are in place, both of which have now been fulfilled. The first was a fine imposed last September for conflict-of-interest breaches and for ignoring editorial rules, and a separate penalty order for withholding records of how it spent public money.

ON director Peter Vlemmix told the ANP news agency the broadcaster would continue its “fight for survival” and accused the authority of overlooking improvements made over the past year.

Letschert has promised to tell MPs her decision on ON’s future before a parliamentary debate on September 24.