The Amsterdam tourist office has revealed it was the author of a popular YouTube video, assumed to have been put online by two young Amsterdammers to counter false information published by US TV host Bill O'Reilly. In a show aired in August 2009 he depicted Amsterdam as a cesspit teeming with killers and drugs dealers.
The Bill O'Reilly Factor programme is broadcast on Fox News, which is often accused of having an unfair conservative, right-wing bias.
The pro-Amsterdam video appeared on YouTube shortly afterwards, contrasting O'Reilly's assertions with statistics and images which paint a much more favourable picture of the Dutch capital. Instead of crime and corruption, viewers are shown smiling people cavorting in a park or tending their canalside garden.
The alleged authors of the video also put the ball back into the US court, saying that American society is faced with far worse drugs addiciton problems than the Netherlands.
Amsterdam's tourist office said it decided to remain anonymous "in order to preserve the authenticity of the reactions to the video".
This is the pro-Amsterdam video:
Happy senior citizens in Amsterdam (YouTube screenshot)
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