This week Feedback highlights messages of good will, a question or two on reception in Canada and a banker from the resistance, and clears up a few misunderstandings on our mission, our use of spelling and those “Radio Books”.

First, we are still receiving loads of messages and best wishes for the New Year from our listeners/readers. While it is impossible to print all of them, we do want to let you know that they are all read and appreciated, and to round it all off, this final message from Lawrence Kelyaneh:

“Dear Friends: I hope all of you in Radio Netherlands English service are doing fine. By sending this e-mail I want to thank you for your good programmes and your internet service. I hope you will continue your good programmes through 2010. Finally, I wish a very healthy New Year 2010 for all of you in English service (and other departments, too).”

Every once in a while, we receive a mail that is meant to go out to the world at large, and when possible, we print them. The following mail was entitled “My hero!” and sent in from Mark Nolan:

“On behalf of millions of my countrymen and women, I would like to thank Mr Schuring for his actions on that plane above Detroit. What he did on that plane was indeed heroic. While our government is more concerned with sparing peoples' feelings than it is with protecting the American people, it's nice to know that there are still common men and women who are not afraid to do what it is right. So please accept our most sincere and heartfelt thanks Mr Schuring.”

Of course we have no way of knowing whether Mr Schuring actually reads the Feedback column of Radio Netherlands Worldwide's English Department, but stranger things have happened. We hope your message finds its way.
 

More information please...

The next message is from one of our regular listeners/readers in Canada who seems to have lost her way to finding our broadcasts. Penny Barrett wrote:

“The last Radio Netherlands Worldwide brochure did not include North America shortwave radio schedule. I am on your mailing list for Halifax Canada. I need more information to tune in.”

Penny has since been informed that she can check alternatives and listening information may be found on our homepage, right hand column: "Listening to RNW", she can tune in through the CBC overnight service, or, as Andy Sennitt has reliably informed Feedback:

“You can't receive short wave there officially, but our broadcast to West Africa on 12080 kHz at 1900-2000 UTC has been reported with good reception in Canada - it is beamed northwest from Meyerton, South Africa.”

Hope this helps. Another reader/listener who lost his way trying to find a documentary he remembered hearing from Liesbeth de Bakker (03-05-2006), “Walraven van Hall, banker of the Dutch Resistance”. Ross Wildeman wrote:

“I would like to listen to this program again in English. When I try to access it I only get the Dutch version, which has beautiful music and voices, but unfortunately I cannot speak or understand the language. I have posted comments and I think written before but receive no results. I would buy the book also if it were in English. This is not something to be ashamed of. He was one of the most noble men in history.”

Web Editor, Theo Tamis, responds:
“Thanks for taking the time to write to us. I've uploaded the English-language programme again. You might want to click here."

Mr Wildeman is only one of many who have lost some old favourites as a result of moving to the new website last year. We are, however, trying to catch up by moving the archives over as soon as possible, while keeping up the continuous flow of new information. If you have lost a specific programme, do let us know and we will try to find it for you.
 

Remove articles about Islam

Now, the first of the misunderstandings. Isa sent us the following message:

“This site is basically established to present the elegant image of the Netherlands, not to present Islam. It is a big mistake of the authorities of this site to let people to write on such a subject, there are many other sites people can use. I ask here to remove any articles about Islam...this site is not a forum for it.”

Dear Isa, there seems to be a lot of confusion in your mail. Our mission, found right at the top of our website page, is to present news, analysis, features and background to current events. As we are editorially independent from the government, that includes issues that do not show the “elegant” side of the Netherlands, and we have been quite critical in the past.

Similarly, we do not aim to “present” Islam. When issues surrounding or concerning Islam arise through current events, we handle them as we would any other topic or issue, through news, analysis, features and background.

And finally, the forums that allow people to express themselves are an important part of our communication exchange with our readers and listeners, and are the mechanism that allows both you and others to share their opinions.
 

Apologize or apologise

The next message came through with good intentions. We always appreciate it if our readers/listeners pick up on factual errors when they occur, and in that spirit, a certain John Doe wrote:
“You misspelled the word apologize on the page
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/%E2%80%9Cal-qaeda-practises-beating-body-scanners.
the correct spelling is apologize.”

In fact, it was not. Web Editor Theo Tamis explains:

“We follow UK spelling in all cases. British usage accepts both -ise and -ize, but as the ratio between -ise and -ize stands at 3:2 and the -ise form is standard in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist and other leading publications, Radio Netherlands Worldwide has opted for the -ise form. For more on spelling differences between American and British English, see Wikipedia.”

And finally, a common misunderstanding, and some great praise came in from ODXA and
Mark Coady:

“Today (Sunday January 10th) I caught Radio Netherlands on 12080 via Meyerton, South Africa, at 1937 with a dramatic reading from "On My Way" by Ellen Ombre (originally from Surinam) on "Radio Books". The book deals with an Amsterdam man who is the product of a Dutch Jewish man and a Creole woman from Surinam (Dutch Guiana). Today's reading dealt with the man's childhood in Surinam. It is an excellent book to listen to and I hope they continue reading from this book.”

Dear Mark, thanks for that, but I have sadly to inform you that there will be no more readings from that book, as it is not actually a book. The name of the programme may be a bit misleading – or perhaps stretching the idea of “book”, as they are short stories that have been written to be read on air, specifically for this series. Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Photo: Flickr/Fazen