AMSTERDAM — Dutch television station SBS 6 has insisted it adhered to standards of “careful journalism” by publishing video images taken from a digital camera stolen from Princess Maxima. SBS has brushed aside royal demands that it admit to acting improperly.

SBS claims it was not wrong to broadcast images of Princess Amalia — the baby daughter of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima — which were already accessible for the public via the internet.
 
The video images of Princess Maxima singing and talking lovingly to Amalia were published on an Argentinean website last week. They were also broadcast by SBS 6 on 13 May, despite a warning from the Government Information Service (RVD).

The RVD claimed broadcasting the images violated the privacy rights of the popular royal couple. Willem-Alexander and Maxima gave SBS on Tuesday three days in which to prevent legal action.

The royal couple demanded that SBS admit it erred in broadcasting the video images, promise that they would not be used again and pay EUR 5,000 to the SOS Kinderdorpen, which assists orphans and abandoned children.

SBS 6 rejected the first demand, but promised not to use the images again because they are no longer topical. It also promised that irrespective of the threatened legal procedure, it will donate the EUR 5,000 to SOS Kinderdorpen.

“We await a possible judicial procedure with the utmost confidence,” SBS 6 said.

The RVD has not responded to the SBS statement because the broadcaster has not yet made contact with the information service, Dutch public news agency NOS reported.

The video was stolen as Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima made a recent trip to Argentina for a wedding of one of Maxima’s friends.

The royal couple are extremely concerned about the privacy of their daughter Amalia, the future queen of the Netherlands. The Royal House thus hopes to reach a code of conduct with the media governing future media coverage of Amalia.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news + Dutch royal family