Profile
Biography
In his younger years, he wanted to become a poet or writer. Encouraged by, among others, Stan Hollaardt, his Dutch teacher in secondary school. “I covered the walls of my bedroom with adolescent poetry,” he once said about it. “I was a dreamer, even at school. When I started working at a local newspaper at the age of 18, I knew: this is my calling. Journalism.”
Fons de Poel was born in 1955 in Nijmegen, the youngest of eight children. “It was a warm home. Lots of music. My brothers played in all sorts of bands. Our house was always full of people. My parents were incredibly hospitable.”
His secondary school years didn’t go particularly well—he was even expelled. “My mind was elsewhere.” He got a job at the social services office, but after accidentally paying double holiday bonuses to residents of the trailer park, he quickly realized: “Administrative work is not really my strength.”
He chose “language” as his professional domain. That ambition began to pay off in the 1970s when he started working as a journalist, first for the Nijmeegs Dagblad and later De Gelderlander. It was especially at the latter where his talent and diligence stood out. Editor-in-chief Frans Hulskorte gave him full freedom, first as a regional reporter and later as a writer of interviews and background stories for the paper’s weekend editions.
His work drew attention. Max de Bok, a colleague at De Gelderlander and longtime éminence grise of parliamentary journalism, tipped off Brandpunt editor-in-chief Ad Langebent about “a young man with a golden pen.”
That’s how De Poel ended up in 1982 at KRO television’s renowned current affairs program Brandpunt. “It took some getting used to,” he would later recall. “I had to learn to write in images. But I’ve always remained a textual journalist. The fusion of image and word is magical.”
For Brandpunt, he traveled to news hotspots around the world, produced political programs, and eventually became both presenter and editor-in-chief. He also took part in numerous Brandpunt spin-offs.
He initiated the program Reporter, an investigative journalism show that regularly generated major news stories. He was also one of the founders, presenter, and editor-in-chief of the daily current affairs show Netwerk.
In addition, he developed many original programs, including Het Gevoel van De Poel (a behavioral science program), M.A.C.H.T. (about leadership), Home Sweet Home (psychology), and Het Gevoel van de Vierdaagse.
He produced dozens of episodes of the biography series Profiel and, for Omroep Max, the series Door Andere Ogen (contemporary portraits). As both creator and producer, he has been responsible for a wide range of major documentaries.
(For a personal reflection on his television oeuvre, see the “Programs” section of this site.)
Over the course of his long career, Fons de Poel has also chaired hundreds of conferences for companies and social organizations. Drawing on his rich television experience, he often works closely with clients to develop the content and design of events.
(For more information about his role as moderator and event creator, see the “Conferences” section of this site.)
In all his activities, Fons de Poel is driven by the urge to communicate information in a “narrative” way. Or as he puts it himself: “The facts must be accurate. But the human brain is especially receptive to scenarios. This applies to TV programs, but also to conferences or any other form of information transfer. The power of the story is decisive. Only then is information stored in our brains as ‘memorable.’”
Fons de Poel (Fons de Poel Media Productions) has been at the forefront of Dutch television journalism for decades.
Starting as a print journalist, he went on to work for many years as an international correspondent, presenter, and editor-in-chief of KRO’s Brandpunt. He later became the founder and presenter of the daily news and background program Netwerk, a collaboration he initiated between the current affairs programs of KRO, NCRV, and AVRO.
He was also the creator, editor-in-chief, and presenter of Reporter, an investigative journalism program that for many years broke major news stories.
In addition, he developed a wide range of journalistic program series for public broadcasting, from the biography program Profiel and the annual Gevoel van de Vierdaagse to Fons bij de Buren, a search for the soul of neighboring European countries. In his various roles, he led large editorial teams in terms of content.
SHORT PROFILE
