Page - 116 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

116 | Sakina Loukili www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 107–131 mainstream media, the “fourth estate” in Dutch society. They suggest that the media function as gatekeepers of the established order and therefore determine what is presented to Dutch citizens as either truthful or false information – both in general terms and specifically when it comes to the representation of DENK. According to DENK, journalists purposely target people who somehow form a threat to the establishment, creating suspi- cions by seeking out unsavory information from their past and acting as prosecutors who mete out damning verdicts. The video, accompanied by sinister background music, ends with DENK urging their followers to make their own conscious choices and “see through the game”.45 The indignant responses by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and several jour- nalists46 suggest mutual feelings of distrust or wariness. The relationship between DENK and many mainstream news outlets had soured early on, when some news outlets cast Kuzu and Öztürk in a negative light after they left the PvdA-faction.47 In particular, they clashed with journalists from media outlets that are generally considered right-wing, such as PowNed, but they have also been in conflict with journalists from news outlets with a less outspoken political stance. One example of a controversy that took place after the notorious “Don’t trust the media” YouTube video comes from 2017, when DENK refused journalists from certain newspaper outlets access to their election gathering.48 While several journalists responded critically to this exclusion, calling it a “dangerous development”,49 DENK’s defense was that they have their own media (a reference to their Facebook page) and the decision to livestream the gathering.50 NIDA’s relation to and visibility in mainstream media is significantly dif- ferent. An explanation might lie in the variation in political style between the two parties. While DENK has often been accused of using populist strat- 45 The video refers explicitly to the trias politica system of philosopher Montesquieu, in which media is seen as a shadow dimension of power within a state. 46 Unknown author 2016. 47 De NRC and De Telegraaf offered a contentious reconstruction of their exit based on anon- ymous sources in the PvdA fraction, which even included a quote about Öztürk combing his beard in the faction, seemingly implying that he was some kind of radical Islamist; see De Jong 2014. 48 DENK refused access to at least journalists from the NRC and BN/De Stem; see Pasveer 2017. 49 The secretary of the Dutch union for journalists (NVJ), Thomas Bruning, said this in re- sponse to DENK’s refusal to give access to several journalists; Kivits 2017. 50 Pasveer 2017.