MICHAEL WALSH: Not a single political guest to feature on one of the Netherlands’ most-watched late-night talk shows in the lead-up to Wednesday’s general election has come from the country’s two largest right-wing parties, according to data published by an unofficial TV watchdog.

The Diversity Watch organization, which monitors political diversity on talk shows published the number of guests to have been invited onto Op1, a regular talk show on the Dutch public broadcaster NPO, since the fall of the Dutch government back in July.

Based on its findings, politicians affiliated with the governing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) had featured 21 times on the show ahead of next week’s election. The party led by Turkish-born Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius was followed by the social liberal Democrats 66 making 16 appearances.

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The Labor-Green alliance PvdA-GL led by Frans Timmermans; the former EU commissioner resigned from his post to have a stab at becoming Dutch prime minister. He came third with its politicians featuring 13 times on the program. The main parties were followed by the centrist Christian Union with 12 appearances, the agrarian populist BoerBurgerBeweging with 10, and the pro-Brussels federalist Volt party with eight.

Not a single guest was invited from two of the country’s largest right-wing political parties: Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy (FvD) and Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV). No guests have been featured either from the right-wing BVNL party led by Dutch MP and former member of the VVD, Wybren van Haga.

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This is despite Wilders’ PVV being due to become the Netherlands’ fourth-largest party, according to the latest polls. The right-wing group has leapt to 13 per cent of the vote share just days before the Dutch electorate casts its vote. This gives the media-excluded party real hope of entering government. Media promotion of candidates goes against electoral law in place to safeguard the electorate.

A high-profile TV talk show held a debate on healthcare. It featured several high-profile candidates from the major political parties to outline their policies. The show claimed that no one from her party wanted to attend the debate. Hardly surprising as no one had been invited to join the televised debate.

Commenting on Diversity Watch’s findings, Baudet described the invitation policy of the propagandist mainstream media as completely crazy, accusing the Dutch establishment media of wheeling and dealing in the same cartel.

‘No radio for us, no TV, not on commercial channels, not on public channels, not in the newspapers, not in the magazines, not invited to debates, nothing,’ he told followers.

Both Wilders and Baudet have considerable social media followings — 1.1 million and 319,000 followers on X, respectively. Unlike their political rivals who are widely promoted by the media – selected candidates are never asked searching questions, they are reliant on using these outlets to bypass the mainstream media intent on stifling their message and communicating directly with the electorate.

A centre-right to right-wing government is a distinct possibility following the election taking place on Nov. 22, with conservatives at the very least expected to increase their representation in the parliament.

Mainstream media’s selection and censorship of political candidates is not confined to the Netherlands. It is standard practice throughout the so-called demarcating West.

IS THERE AN ANTIDOTE TO PRESS CONTROL OF POLITICS Yes, there is. Organizers and supporters of media-isolated parties must name and shame a broadcaster’s or newspaper’s commercial advertisers and then boycott them. It is also important to mobilize supporters and activists to personally contact each of a media’s advertisers to tell them why you are boycotting their product or service. BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST > POST OUR STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA