{"id":179935,"date":"2025-06-11T15:13:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=179935"},"modified":"2026-02-10T15:27:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:27:45","slug":"eur-spokesperson-marc-lamers-on-erasmus-magazine-if-you-just-put-opinions-against-each-other-i-dont-find-that-a-very-appealing-way-of-communicating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/06\/11\/eur-spokesperson-marc-lamers-on-erasmus-magazine-if-you-just-put-opinions-against-each-other-i-dont-find-that-a-very-appealing-way-of-communicating\/","title":{"rendered":"EUR spokesperson Marc Lamers on EM: ‘If you just put opinions against each other, I don’t find that a very appealing way of communicating’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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In the week of press freedom, Erasmus Magazine also critically reflects on itself. One of the roles of university media is to question and investigate the university and its administration, which can sometimes create tension. How do the spokespersons of Erasmus University actually view this role and the university magazine? An interview with EUR spokesperson Marc Lamers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How is the collaboration between the press spokespersons and Erasmus Magazine?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cIn Rotterdam, it goes quite well. I have been working here since September 2023 and before that, I worked for eight years at Wageningen University, where it went well too. You get to know each other, you understand each other\u2019s differences, and I think that\u2019s the same everywhere. At the beginning of my career, I worked at the Breda University of Applied Sciences on the \u2018other side\u2019 and produced the newspaper for students and staff.\u201d<\/p>

Does that experience help to understand both positions?<\/p><\/strong>

\u201cDefinitely, and I think that\u2019s the crux: if you understand each other\u2019s perspectives and interests, you also respect the differences between them. This generally applies to spokespersons and journalists.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\t

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Erasmus Magazine and Profielen (our colleagues from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences) are organising a conference on journalism in higher education on Thursday 12 June. In the lead-up, we celebrate press freedom with a series of articles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At what point do those interests diverge?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cAs a spokesperson, you consider the interests of the organisation and deal with administrative processes. Journalists from a university or college newspaper do not need to take that into account. There is also an important common ground: both roles have the responsibility to inform the academic community. When it comes to a subject that is quite informative, the roles of communication and media are not that different. It\u2019s when opinions are expressed that things change. That\u2019s a journalistic interpretation of a situation that we will never engage in, and I see that as the added value of the university newspaper.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that ever create friction?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cOf course! That\u2019s what I mean by those differences. As an editorial team, you have to write about what is happening administratively. But that often differs from the image that you as a communicator want to share about a subject. There can be a gap there. However, that shouldn\u2019t be seen as a problem. Staff and students are smart enough to understand that there is a difference between the source from the university\u2019s official channel and that of a journalistic article.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Spokespersons are sometimes less pleased with articles.<\/p><\/strong>

\u201cCan you give an example?\u201d<\/p>

Well, it\u2019s before your time, but in 2020, an article appeared about how the expenses of the Executive Board increased by 100,000 euros<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cYes, situations like that can lead to discussions, and that will continue to happen. That\u2019s perfectly fine.\u201d<\/p>

Is it good that university media also have the role of holding the administration accountable?<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, just as you said: it is also a role. I would find it a bit narrow if that were to be the main task. Especially since, as a university newspaper, you have a unique position: on one hand, you follow the administration, and on the other hand, you are sitting on a goldmine of stories that you could bring first, even before\u00a0<\/span>de Volkskrant<\/em>. You are at the heart of knowledge development; those are beautiful stories. Of course, there are also stories that the administration would prefer not to have published. But that\u2019s something you have to deal with.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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