Dik de Joode made the wishes of the deceased come true

How do you deal with the grief of a family?

We were only one and a half weeks into the new year when BD reporter Dik de Joode published one of the most compelling stories of 2024. He looks back with pride, but also with mixed feelings.

Roger Janssen at the memorial corner for his late wife Erica, together with their son Roy.

He received many compliments in that week. All his colleagues had read the story from cover to cover, and they were not the only ones. There were more than 1.3 million article views. He would have preferred a little less attention, mainly because of the drama that had preceded it.

Erica Janssen (aged 53) ended the life of her severely disabled son Roy (aged 25) and then her own life in their home in Drunen in the first weekend of October. She was tired of the years of caring for her son and the red tape and bureaucracy surrounding it.

When Dik de Joode walked into the town hall in Vlijmen on Monday for another appointment, he saw the memorial corner. Erica was a catering staff member there. “I got talking with the town hall messenger and they confirmed the rumours that I had already heard. I made it clear that I was not a sensation seeker, but that this was obviously a very unusual story”.

Initially he was told not to expect anything: the family was “angry with the press”. “Several 112 news photographers, not ours as it happens, had behaved very provocatively that night. But people at the town hall also said: we know who you are and how you work.”

Back at the editorial office he immediately said “don’t breathe down my neck, trust me, I’m working on it.” A few weeks later, Erica’s husband Roger called to say that he and his daughter Esmée would be willing to tell their story to BD.

More than 1.3 million article views, 130 conversions and great read-out graph

“What also played a role in this is that Erica wanted the story to be told.” She had stated that in one of the 200 letters that she had left for her family. It turns out that the lady from Drunen had been planning her act for two years. “Roger turned out to be a very open guy. That also places an extra responsibility on you to tell a good story with integrity.”

Before the story was published, Dik paid the family a final visit to obtain their feedback. “Even though it concerned relatively small things.” And there was close contact with AD and other brands regarding the time of publication, the headline and any changes.

Mixed feelings

During the weekend in which the story was published (in the Saturday paper and online on Sunday morning), compliments poured in via the app. “I had mixed feelings. I was doing well at the expense of someone else’s grief. One of the comments that I received was that the story was not over the top. This was very important for me because it is very easy to greatly exaggerate using only a few simple words.”

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How does Dik look back on the process? “Together, we managed to create something of which we can be proud, at a time when media is under debate. I look back on it with a positive feeling. And even if that wasn’t the main goal, we were able to fulfil a kind of last wish for Erica.”

Alex van Lanen

Regional explainers very popular

Adding value to our journalism with videos: we succeeded in doing this in 2024 for our Brabant brands by focusing on regional explainers and explanatory videos. This was very popular.

This applied to a great variety of subject matters including Peter Gillis, De Efteling, millionaires and their private planes or a major traffic junction in Eindhoven that was being upgraded. A reporter explains exactly what it involves using images. People usually watch the explainers until the end. We very carefully choose the subject matters: with a few exceptions, we can frequently reuse these videos as a lot is usually written about these topics. We continue to innovate so that we can also reach a younger target audience with specific, and often shorter, formats.

Our goal is to establish the facts

The mayor of Zaltbommel had to step down this year. That happened after investigative work by and the persistence of reporter Brigit Groeneveld.

hecking those in power is one of the most important tasks of our journalists at Brabants Dagblad. We are not out to bring people down, but we do want to get to the truth. If a mayor is acting improperly, for instance, we feel that this should be addressed.

In this example – the mayor of Zaltbommel allegedly replaced the windows of his listed building illegally – our reporter had received a tip. She spent weeks uncovering the information and searching for evidence of a deliberate violation of the law.

The latter, i.e. proving that his actions were deliberate, was not immediately possible because after publication of the initial story the mayor got away with it by telling the Municipal Council that there had been no malicious intent. They believed him and he was allowed to stay on.

However, Groeneveld continued to suspect intent and did not let the matter rest. She found the name of the building contractor in one of the documents that she had received. A phone call with him provided the breakthrough. The building contractor had warned the mayor beforehand. After publication of this news, the politicians had had enough and the mayor announced his resignation.

The fall of the mayor was not the goal of Brabants Dagblad, but uncovering the truth was. Without our journalists checking those in power, they would have free reign. And we now know what the consequences of this can be for people and society, and that endorses the importance of close-knit local journalism.