Introduction
With a population of about 17.4 million, the Netherlands is a middle-sized country in Western Europe. The country is classed as a mature parliamentary democracy and a welfare state, although the latter has become on all fronts less generous in 2020 compared to previous decades.
According to Freedom House’s flagship, the annual Global Freedom report, assessing the condition of political rights and civil liberties around the world, the Netherlands with its strong record in the matter, obtained a score of 99 out of 100 in 2020 (similar to the two previous years). Political rights are considered as completely safeguarded. Although Dutch society is known for its tolerance, tensions are mounting between the majority population and the Muslim and immigrant population. A rising anti-immigrant and an anti-Islamic sentiment in recent years, Muslims and immigrants experiencing harassment and intimation, explain the loss of one percent point (Freedom House, 2020). Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), a multidimensional approach of conceptualizing and measuring democracy, positions the Netherlands in the Top 10 bracket (ranked 16 of all countries) in its Annual Democracy Report of 2020, which is a bit lower compared to a decade earlier, in 2009. On the Freedom of Expression Index 2019, the Netherlands scores 0.93, which is a slight decrease over the past ten years with 0.03 (V-Dem, 2020). In 2019, the Netherlands was ranked 17th in the world based on its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$914 billion, and 13th based on the GDP per capita (US$53,016). Since the end of 2017, minister Arie Slob (from Christian Union, a socially conservative center-left Christian-democratic party) has taken over the media portfolio from state secretary Sander Dekker (from VVD, the liberal party). Minister Slob has freed up more money for subsidising journalism thanks to an investigative journalism scheme and a pilot aimed at professionalizing local broadcasters.
Although the Netherlands belongs to the small Dutch language area, bordering with Belgium, it shares a language with, and Germany, the country can be seen as a global media player. For instance, Endemol Shine Group started as a Dutch production house and is now creating content for all platforms worldwide. Another example is RELX (previously known as Reed Elsevier), which is a merger between the British trade book and magazine publisher Reed and the Netherlands-based scientific publisher Elsevier. RELX is a global provider of scientific books and information-based analytics. Elsevier Weekblad is published by RELX and is the largest weekly in the country.
Over the last three decades, since the launch of commercial television in Flanders (in 1989), Dutch-speaking Belgians have been rarely following Dutch media contents, and there has never been a tradition in the other direction. However, when it comes to media acquisitions, in the last decade two Flemish press companies Mediahuis and DPG Media have become major players in the Dutch market. In 2015, a Dutch subsidiary of the Flemish company Mediahuis took over the NRC Media Holding, the publisher of NRC Handelsblad and nrc.next, catering for a well-educated and wealthy audience. Two years later, in 2017, this drive for expansion had not yet stopped and for diversification purposes, Mediahuis took over the Telegraaf Media Group (TMG), publisher of the popular newspaper De Telegraaf and regional newspapers such as Noordhollands Dagblad. As a consequence, TMG was rebranded into Mediahuis Nederland in 2019. Also in 2017, the Media Groep Limburg (MGL) with the Dutch regional newspaper De Limburger was annexed to Mediahuis.
The other Flemish media company, DPG Media, had already taken over PCM Publishing in 2009, and rebranded its subsidiary De Persgroep Nederland. As a result, it became the publisher of three national newspapers in the Netherlands: Algemeen Dagblad, de Volkskrant and Trouw. In December 2019, DPG Media announced the acquisition of Sanoma Media Netherlands, the largest magazine publisher in the Netherlands. Moreover, the online news platform NU.nl, the largest news site in the country, is owned by the Flemish company DPG Media.
The Netherlands has a unique public broadcasting system, commonly characterized as pillarized and grounded on the principle of external diversity, traditionally representing the social and cultural segments or “pillars” (Christian-protestant, catholic and socialist) in society (Lijphart, 1975). The foundation of the Dutch public broadcasting system, both television and radio, is the Dutch Public Broadcaster (Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, NPO) with three public networks (NPO1, NPO2 and NPO3). Six member-based television broadcasters receive airtime on these three public networks regulated by the Dutch Media Act 2008. These six member-based broadcasters are meant to represent and appeal to the diversity of Dutch society in terms of age, life-style, geographic and cultural origin, and political tendency. Besides, the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) or Dutch Broadcast Foundation is task-based: it has a special statutory obligation to make news programmes on television, radio and online. NOS Journaal is the umbrella name for the television and radio news broadcasts. There is also a news program aimed at children (Jeugdjournaal) and teenagers/young adults (NOS op 3). Moreover, Nieuwsuur (News Hour) is a daily Dutch current affairs television program co-produced by NOS. The NOS is also responsible for two themed digital channels: NPO Nieuws (NPO News), a 24-hour news channel, repeating the latest NOS Journaal as well as covering live events, and NPO Politiek (NPO Politics), a live channel featuring coverage of parliamentary sessions, debate and archive material.
According to the risks assessment of the Media Pluralism Monitor run by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at the European University Institute in Florence, the risks to media pluralism in the Netherlands were considered low for the basic protection, political independence and social inclusiveness of the media, and medium risk for market plurality. A strong legal framework ensures freedom of expression. Political independence of the media is assured by a strong journalistic culture of self-regulation and editorial autonomy and an independent PSM governance structure. Social inclusiveness is also a low risk factor due to purposeful policy. While the first three areas represent a low risk, there is still room for improvement because (1) journalists are facing hardship because of the preference for poorly paid self-employed journalists or freelancers, (2) there is a lack of legislation to protect journalistic sources, (3) there is no legislation on conflicts of interests between media owners and political parties, and (4) certain population groups such as the visually impaired and women have less access to media. Market plurality is at medium risk, mainly because of a high level of media ownership concentration, with two Flemish media companies dominating the press sector and a weak transparency of ownership (Rossini, 2017, p. 6).
Leading news media sample 2020
This follow-up study is based on desk research and in-depth interviews. The secondary analysis of relevant documents, including quantitative data, bears on the year 2018 or 2019, unless stated otherwise. Information collected from the interviews reflects the most up-to-date situation. Sixteen professionals in Dutch news media and representatives of the academic world were interviewed. The selected sample represents different media platforms (print, audio-visual and ICT) and different owners. Among our interviewees, editors-in-chief, news chiefs and leading journalists of print news media have been interviewed.
Only two big print news media owners are left in the Dutch news market: DPG Media and Mediahuis (CvM 2019a, 2020). For our study we selected two national newspapers of Mediahuis, one national newspaper of DPG Media and one regional paper of DGP Media. These are briefly characterized as follows:
- De Telegraaf (Mediahuis): popular daily with the largest nation-wide circulation;
- NRC Handelsblad/nrc.next (Mediahuis): quality papers sharing one editor-in-chief, though each steers a course of its own, nrc.next addressing a younger readership;
- De Volkskrant (DPG Media): quality paper, with the third largest nation-wide circulation;
- De Twentsche Courant Tubantia (DPG Media): a regional newspaper.
We also examined De Groene Amsterdammer, an independent weekly and the oldest weekly magazine in the country. Despite the decline in the reach of print media and magazines in general, the number of readers of De Groene Amsterdammer has risen steadily since 2009 (Bakker, 2019).
There are two leading news owners for radio and television: the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) or Dutch Public Broadcaster and the RTL Group (CvM 2019a, 2020). We selected the following news broadcast media:
- NOS: within the Dutch public broadcasting system (NPO, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep), NOS is the broadcaster with clearly outlined tasks and legally bound to provide daily newscasts for three television channels, six radio stations and NPO start. NPO start website and app is the video-on-demand service of NPO. The three television channels have a digital thematic channel (NPO 1 Extra, NPO 2 Extra and NPO 3 Extra). The most important news bulletin on television is the NOS Achtuurjournaal. NPO Radio 1 is a 24-hour news and sports station. NPO Nieuws and NPO Politiek are 24/7 news and political digital channels, available both on cable and on the NPO start website and app;
- The RTL news bulletin of RTL4, the largest commercial television channel and the only counterpart to the NOS Achtuurjournaal.
Moreover, we selected the BNR Nieuwsradio station, owned by a relatively small media player, the FD Media group, which also owns the newspaper Financieel Dagblad. BRN Nieuwsradio can be characterized as:
- a commercial radio station, which at first focused on financial and economic items only (BNR standing for Business Nieuws Radio), but has become a wide-ranging newscaster providing a wider news menu ranging from economic affairs, mobility, housing and lifestyles, to sports. As far as format is concerned, it is the only counterpart to the public broadcaster’s (NPO) Radio 1.
In addition to the national public broadcasters, there are also regional public broadcasters and local public broadcasters. The Stichting regionale publieke omroep (Foundation Regional Public Broadcasting) is seen as another leading news medium in the Netherlands, which is a cooperation and coordination body of 13 regional public broadcasters spread across the Netherlands (RTV Noord, Omrop Fryslân, RTV Drenthe, RTV Oost, Omroep Gelderland, RTV Utrecht, Omroep Flevoland, RTV Noord-Holland, Omroep West, RTV Rijnmond, Omroep Brabant, Omroep Limburg and Omroep Zeeland).
Among our interviewees from the broadcast media, the editor-in-chief of NOS Journaal, an editor-in-chief of a regional public broadcaster and a leading journalist of BNR Nieuwsradio were interviewed. Unfortunately, an interview with a journalist from RTL news was not possible.
Finally, the following online only news media were selected for our study and editors-in chief or leading journalists of these news platforms were interviewed:
- nu.nl, the largest commercial website, focusing on news from the Netherlands. Owned by DPG Media since the end of 2019 when the company took over the Dutch arm of the publishing group Sanoma, which has been the largest Dutch publisher of magazines between 2001 and 2019;
- ThePostOnline (Tpo.nl): a private right-wing Dutch news and opinion website. The website had a printed version between 2018 and 2019 called ThePostOffline;
- Follow the Money (FTM.nl): an independent news website for financial-economic investigative journalism, which started in 2010;
- Investico: an online independent platform for investigative journalism, which started in 2016. It is a non-profit foundation aiming to colloborate with other news media;
- Versbeton.nl: an independent online hyperlocal magazine, which started in 2011, focusing on the hard-thinking Rotterdammer. It is a platform for in-depth reflection on the city of Rotterdam.
Additionally, three academics (Piet Bakker, Huub Evers and Jo Bardoel), the chairman of the Dutch Association of Investigative Journalists (Evert de Vos) and the ombudsperson of the NPO (Margo Smit). Huub Evers is moreover the ombudsperson of the regional newspaper De Limburger owned by Mediahuis.
Before embarking on the actual assessment of the Media for Democracy criteria, we briefly discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Dutch news media market.
COVID-19 pandemic
From mid March to mid May/beginning of June 2020, the Rutte III cabinet took measures restricting freedom of movement (a so-called ‘intelligent lockdown’) in the name of public health to prevent the spread of this virus disease, including working from home, banning events and meetings with more than 100 people, closing borders to neighbouring countries, closing schools (under pressure of public opinion and what happened in the neighbouring countries), childcare centres, cafés, restaurants and sport clubs. Shops, however, were not shut down.
The beginning of this COVID-19 crisis resulted in an unprecedented news hunger among the Dutch audience: daily newspapers (both on paper and online) saw their sales of subscriptions increase significantly. The mainstream media were reaffirming their authority as reliable sources for facts and opinions, bringing expertise and explanations to the Covid-19-debate. This had not been the case for the past decade. Also radio and television stations appealed to a growing audience, especially the public broadcaster reached the largest viewer numbers. However, advertising-based news media revenues faced a significant loss of revenues (and estimate of 30 percent). These revenue cuts were the direct cause for drastic decisions on the Dutch media market. Three examples so far: Firstly, the last printed version of the daily came out on Friday 20 March and will not be published in print anymore (Bakker 2020). Secondly, the lifestyle magazine VRIJ, which was a weekend supplement of De Telegraaf will be discontinued as of July 2020 (De Telegraaf 2020). Thirdly, Mediahuis Nederland has announced to cut about 70 of the 160 jobs in its advertising department (Rogmans 2020).
As COVID-19 resulted in decreasing advertising revenues but in an increase in demand of information, the Government decided to create a temporary support fund because provision of information during a crisis is considered of vital importance. Local media are the most vulnerable in this respect. Hence, this special support fund is aimed at door-to-door newspapers and local public broadcasters. A total of EUR 9.3 million has been allocated to these media organisations. Most of the interviewees were against accepting support from the Government for their own medium given the importance they attach to their independence. Generally, they were understanding of the support given to local media because they are the most vulnerable. However, four comments were made. First, our interviewees mentioned that far from all door-to-door newspapers are providing (a lot of) information and news. Second, some of our interviewees also indicated that local public broadcasters are already subsidized, although others remarked that the subsidy is quite low. Third, some also told us they could not understand why so-called hyper-locals are not eligible to apply for this extra money. Fourth, the loudest criticism was that the special support fund is not sponsored with new budget, but is taken away from the subsidies intended for the funding of ‘special research projects’ in 2021. This fund is an important source of income for smaller or local media outlets such as Investico or VersBeton. Investigative journalism is being assessed as far more important for democracy than door-to-door newspapers, the beneficiaries of this special support fund.
Conclusion
The concentration of media ownership is high in the Netherlands (see indicator E1), which is one of the biggest concerns among the journalists and experts interviewed as it is regarded as a threat to media pluralism. It is generally speaking not seen as an acute risk because news brands still show enough differences and cater for different audiences. However, the newsrooms of regional newspapers of DPG Media are being dismantled. The fact that in Flanders, television, newspaper and magazine newsrooms are working together in a merged editorial newsroom of DPG Media (News City) instils this fear.
Another critical issue is the lack of accessibility to government data (see indicator C6). The WOB-procedure (the public nature of government records) is strongly criticized being needlessly complicated and time consuming. The fact that the law was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic is seen as an infringement of democratic rights.
A third possible problem for a well-functioning journalistic infrastructure is the fact that permanent contracts are exchanged for freelancers who have less job security and are paid less (see indicator C5). Moreover, the increased ownership concentration makes it less easy to negotiate pay rates. The crisis has also an impact that is already noticeable for freelancers in the newsrooms of De Telegraaf and BNR Nieuwsradio. Fewer media companies also impact on the freedom of expression, because new job opportunities are becoming scarcer. As a result, and this is primarily a reality at regional and local level, freelancers need to combine several jobs to make ends meet. Because of a freelancer’s financial dependency on one or more actors in a newsworthy story, some possibly gripping stories are still waiting to be told (see indicator F7).
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