BNNVARA () is a broadcasting association and network within the

Dutch public broadcasting system The Dutch public broadcasting system ( nl, Nederlands publieke omroepbestel) is a group of organizations that are responsible for public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroe ...

History

BNNVARA was founded on 1 January 2014 through a merger of the BNN (founded 1997) and

VARA Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia * Vara Municipality, municipality in western S ...

(founded 1925) associations. These continued to exist without broadcasting directly until 2018. In 2011 VARA and BNN announced that they would merge. On 6 November 2011 the members of VARA voted for the merger, after the member council of BNN had already done so a week earlier. The merger was opposed by the

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

and the Freedom Party. BNN and VARA announced on 8 February 2012 that the decision to merge was definite. On 1 September 2018, existing members of BNN and VARA were converted into members of BNNVARA, thus ending the separate member associations that still existed.

Network

After the merge, BNN and VARA kept using their separate branding, but on 24 August 2017 it was announced that as a new broadcaster, BNNVARA (formerly BNN-VARA) would start to show programs though VARA, and for radio later the following morning on 28 August. In 2017, controversy arose when the documentary ''Jesse'', about the leader of the

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

party

Jesse Klaver Jesse Feras Klaver (born 1 May 1986) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2010 and Leader of GroenLinks since 2015. Prior to this, he chaired the youth union of the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond from ...

, was aired by BNN-VARA. The documentary was seen as too biased towards Klaver, fuelling accusations that BNN-VARA lacked journalistic integrity.

References

External links

* {{European Broadcasting Union Members Dutch companies established in 2014 Dutch companies established in 2018 Television channels and stations established in 2014 Television channels and stations established in 2017 Dutch-language television networks Dutch public broadcasting organisations Netherlands Public Broadcasting