Compared with 2009, sensitivity towards internal pluralism has increased in Dutch newsrooms, confirmed Jo Bardoel. While the NPO has a legal obligation to represent all significant voices in society, private media outlets follow their own preferences. The newsroom journalists we interviewed confirmed that the choice of experts and voices was repeatedly discussed, although it was more of a private and personal concern among journalists (see also Indicator F8 – Rules and practices on internal gender equality). However, most of our interviewees admitted that looking for new, diverse faces and voices regularly falls prey to time constraints and tight editorial deadlines. Also, experienced experts know what is expected from them based on media logic, making the journalists’ lives easier with quick and adequate responses.
Overall, diverse opinions are welcome in Dutch newsrooms and are promoted by most editors-in-chief, albeit within the scope of the news medium’s focus. Some stylebooks mention gender equality of news sources. In general, the search for ethnic minorities is a trickier issue, because newsrooms include only a few journalists with an ethnic minority background. Most of the editors-in-chief we interviewed spontaneously brought up their explicit search for suitable journalists with an ethnic profile other than Dutch.
