Dutch court blocks hidden camera bullying footage
Children should be made aware that they have no right to make life miserable for others. A Dutch judge on Friday ordered a local television channel not to broadcast hidden camera footage shot at a high school by a victim of bullying. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- Last month a national furore broke out over the programme which exposes the widespread social problem in Dutch schools, but the privacy-sensitive country is divided over the ethics of secretly filming children at school.
THE HAGUE
A Dutch judge on Friday ordered a local television channel not to broadcast hidden camera footage shot at a high school by a victim of bullying, or risk a massive fine.
Last month a national furore broke out over the programme which exposes the widespread social problem in Dutch schools, but the privacy-sensitive country is divided over the ethics of secretly filming children at school.
The RTL5 channel "may not broadcast the images made by hidden camera for the programme (called) Project P," the Lelystad court said in a statement.
"This also included images where the children are later confronted with the hidden images," the court in the central Dutch city ruled.
Should the station go ahead and show the forbidden footage, it could face a 250,000 ($342,000) fine, the court added.
Several episodes of "Project P: Stop het pesten" (Project P: Stop the bullying) has already been broadcast on Dutch television in recent weeks.
Rotterdam's Einstein Lyceum high school is the only school to object, RTL5 has said.
The school accused the station of making the programme for sensationalist reasons and violating the right to privacy of the bullies, all minors between the ages of 11 to 13.
The channel however said the identities of the bullies are not revealed in the series.
All four schools featured in the broadcasts had the right to ask for some footage not to be shown, but were only told their establishments had been secretly filmed after the fact.
At Einstein, the unnamed bullying victim spent three weeks secretly filming physical and mental abuse at school before the producers confronted teachers and pupils with the footage.
Einstein says the producers then barricaded a bicycle path near the school with a giant television screen, forcing pupils to dismount and watch footage of the bullying.
The children "felt forced to share hugs and high-fives" with the bullying victim, the school said in a statement.
RTL5 denied forcing children to do anything.
Bullying is a common problem in Dutch schools, with an online survey in 2012 finding that 12 percent of 90,000 children questioned had been victims of serious bullying.
