BREAKING NEWS

Dutch broadcaster apologizes for poor coverage of soccer antisemitism

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch main public broadcaster apologized to supporters of a local soccer team for omitting context from reports on the singing of anti-Semitic chants by some fans of the team.
The unusual apology earlier this month by NOS was over its coverage of the Jan. 14 match game in Utrecht between the FC Utrecht team and the Ajax club from Amsterdam that included chants of “The Jews are going to the slaughter” and “whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew.”
In reporting about the chants by Utrecht fans, the broadcasters failed to mention that fans from other teams often chant similarly – some claim the chants are not anti-Semitic, NOS spokeswoman Anja van Ginhoven told the Algemeen Dagblad daily following complaints.
“It was selective outrage on our part, a blunder,” she said.