ZEMBLA is a current affairs programme by VARA broadcasting. The programme tries to provide information to a wide audience by means of opinion-forming investigative journalism.
ZEMBLA carries out in-depth research into events and developments in society and contributes to public opinion on these issues.
ZEMBLA wants to open up the debate and make news, it wants to set things in motion and to bring about changes.
ZEMBLA was first screened in the autumn of 1995 and since then it has been assured of a permanent place within public broadcasting in the Netherlands.
ZEMBLA has made a programme on nearly every social development and special event imaginable.
The programme is broadcast almost weekly on Friday evenings on Nederland 2.
Enclosed are a limited number of ZEMBLA programmes that have been subtitled in English.
EXPLOSIVE TRANSPORT
Day and night, day in day out in the Netherlands thousand of trucks are driving with dangerous goods on our highways. Commissioned by large chemical companies such as Shell or Exxon Mobile carriers transport the loads throughout Europe.
Eastern European drivers
Many of these trucks are driven by a Polish or Hungarian driver. Dutch transport companies are increasingly working with Eastern European lorry drivers. They are much cheaper than Dutch drivers.
The correct papers
In the Netherlands there are strict rules on the transport of dangerous substances. The drivers must be in possession of a special diploma. What about the Eastern European drivers? Are they always professional and do they have the right papers?
ZEMBLA examines whether the transport of dangerous goods is in good hands.
Watch ZEMBLA - 'Explosive transport' by Erwin Otten and Frans Glissenaar
YOUR MORTGAGE: A CASH COW
A house costs a lot of money. Our mortgage is often a heavy cost, partly because of the interest we pay to the bank. In neighboring countries like Germany, France and Belgium homeowners pay less interest on their mortgage. Why not the Netherlands?
Lack of competition
According to Professor M. P. Schinkel of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the high mortgage rates are caused by a lack of competition in the mortgage market. In ZEMBLA Schinkel says that by this we pay hundreds to thousands of euro's per year too much interest for our mortgage.
Zembla investigates: Are our banks calculating a fair price or do we pay too much mortgage?
Watch - 'Your mortgage: a cash cow'
MURDER OF THE HONEYBEE
Of all European countries, the Netherlands has the largest bee mortality. Conservationists are very concerned about the impact this has on our food chain. Scientists and beekeepers from around the world see pesticides as the main cause of mortality. The producers of that plea deny any causal link. In the Netherlands, the chief advisor of the government in this field, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), do not see the pesticides as the main problem of bee mortality. Because of the large economic interests the connection between the death of the bees and the use of pesticides is a sensitive issue on the political agenda in The Hague.
Watch ZEMBLA - Murder of the honeybee
MINISTER OF TOBACCO
Edith Schippers is a remarkable Health Minister. She is considered a loyal ally by the smoke lobby. Prominent doctors speak with disgust about her smoking policy: it raises the smoking ban for small catering and stops campaigns to get people to stop smoking.
Watch Minister of tabacco
