Mass media in the Netherlands
Mass media in the Netherlands–television,radio,newspapers,magazines– are characterised by a tradition of politico-denominational segregation ( "pillarisation") on the one hand and an increasing degree ofcommercialismon the other.
Television and radio[edit]
Television and radio are provided by a system of public-broadcasting organisations (sharing three television and five radio networks) together with a number of commercial channels.
Public service broadcasting[edit]
TheNetherlands Public Broadcastingsystem arose from the former practice – known as "pillarisation" – in which the country's various religious and social groups all organised their own institutions, with financial help from the government. These institutions included broadcasting. Although the system of pillarisation largely collapsed in the 1970s, the broadcastingassociationsthemselves have remained active. Most have several tens of thousands of members, and they are allocated broadcasting time on the public channels in proportion to the size of their memberships. In addition, a number of other broadcastingfoundations,established by the government, also receive air time.
The system is financed from three sources:
- grant-in-aidpayments from the government, raised from general taxation;
- the income from on-air advertising, regulated by the Stichting Ether Reclame (STER), a public body;
- (a small proportion of the total) the dues paid by members of the broadcasting associations.
The broadcasting associations share three national television channels (NPO 1,NPO 2,NPO 3) and seven radio channels (NPO Radio 1,NPO Radio 2,NPO 3FM,NPO Radio 4,NPO Radio 5,NPO Radio 6,andFunX). Each of these television channels have their own profile: thus NPO 1 is oriented towards news, sport, and family programming, NPO 2 towards culture, arts, politics, and religion, while NPO 3 concentrates on youth and progressive programming.
There are also several provincial television channels, which are organised by theprovinces.
| Full name | Abbreviation | Status | Orientation | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep | AVRO | Association (class A) | Liberal/ neutral | avro.nl |
| Bart's Neverending Network | BNN | Association (class A) | Youth | bnn.nl |
| Evangelische Omroep | EO | Association (class A) | OrthodoxProtestant | eo.nl |
| Katholieke Radio Omroep | KRO | Association (class A) | catholic | kro.nl |
| Omroepvereniging MAX | MAX | Association (class B) | Older viewers | omroepmax.nl |
| Ongehoord Nederland | ON | Association (class B) | Far-right | https://ongehoordnederland.tv/ |
| Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging | NCRV | Association (class A) | Protestant | ncrv.nl |
| Publieke Omroep Weldenkend Nederland En Dergelijke | PowNed | Association (class C) | Rebellious / Right wing | powned.tv |
| Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting | TROS | Association (class A) | Neutral (former commercial pirate) | tros.nl |
| Omroepvereniging VARA | VARA | Association (class A) | Social-democratic | omroep.vara.nl |
| Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep | VPRO | Association (class B) | Liberal(formerly Liberal Protestant) | vpro.nl |
| Wakker Nederland | WNL | Association (class C) | Conservative / right wing | omroepwnl.nl |
| Nederlandse Omroep Stichting | NOS | Foundation | News / sport | nos.nl |
| Stichting NTR | NTR | Foundation | Educational | ntr.nl |
| Boeddhistische Omroep Stichting | BOS | foundation | Buddhist | buddhistmedia |
| Humanistische Omroep | HO | foundation | Humanist | humanistischeomroep.nl |
| Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland | IKON | foundation | Nine small Christian churches | omroep.nl/ikon |
| Joodse Omroep | JO | foundation | Jewish | joodseomroep.nl |
| Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep | NIO | foundation | Islamic(conservative) | nioweb.nl |
| Nederlandse Moslim Omroep | NMO | foundation | Islamic(progressive) | nmo.nl |
| Omrop Fryslân | OF | foundation | West Frisian language | omropfryslan.nl |
| Organisatie Hindoe Media | OHM | foundation | Hindu | ohmnet |
| Zendtijd voor Politieke Partijen | PP | foundation | Political parties represented in theDutch parliament | |
| Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap | RKK | foundation | Catholic(conservative) | rkk.nl |
| Stichting Ether Reclame | STER | foundation | Commercial advertising | [1] |
| Zendtijd voor Kerken | ZvK | foundation | Church services | zvk.nl |
Commercial broadcasting[edit]
Commercial broadcastingwas banned until the late 1980s. In the 1970s, before they were allowed to join the public television system,VeronicaandTROShad broadcast as off-shore pirate stations. In the 1980s theRTL Groupstarted broadcasting fromLuxembourg.In 1988 commercial broadcasting was legalised. Currently there are seven larger channels owned by two companies.RTLownsRTL 4,RTL 5,RTL 7,RTL 8andRTL Z,whileSBS,the Finnish publisher Sanoma and Dutch television production company Talpa (formallySBS Broadcasting Group) ownSBS 6,SBS 9,NET 5andVeronica.There are also other networks present, offering speciality channels. Among them areDiscovery Benelux,Viacom Media,Fox Channels,Disney-ABCandTime Warner.
Newspapers[edit]
All newspapers are privately owned. They were historically linked to thepillarisation system,with some titles having strong links tolabour unionsorpolitical parties.These ties have all been severed now. Two companies play a large role:Medialaan - De Persgroep Publishing,which owns several newspapers; andTelegraaf Media Groep,which owns De Telegraaf (the largest paper) andSp!ts,a free newspaper.
The most important papers are the right-wing tabloidDe Telegraaf,the progressive liberalNRC Handelsblad,which also publishesnrc•next,the ProtestantTrouwand the progressive left-wingDe Volkskrant.The latter two newspaper won in consecutive years (2012, 2013) the prestigious award for being the best nationwide newspaper in Europe at theEuropean Newspaper Award.
Smaller Protestant communities have their own paper, like theNederlands Dagbladand theReformatorisch Dagblad.The business community has theHet Financieele Dagblad.A recent phenomenon are the widely read free newspapers Spits and theMetro.There are also several local and regional newspapers. TheAlgemeen Dagblad,the third largest paper, recently merged with several local papers to form a hybrid national-local paper.
Websites[edit]
Most broadcasting and newspapers organizations have online presence. Some organizations publish exclusively online, such asNU.nl,Tweakers,Dumpert andGeenStijl.[1]
Magazines[edit]
Magazines were, like the other media, frequently connected to pillars, such asBeatrijs,a Catholic woman's weekly. The main news magazines are the left-wingVrij NederlandandDe Groene Amsterdammerand the more right-wingElsevierandHP/De Tijd.
Some 1970 Dutch magazines formerly owned byVerenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijenwere sold to by the Finnish media groupSanoma.Apart from many typical Dutch ones likeMargriet,LibelleandNieuwe Revu,these includeDonald Duck(a comic book withDisneycomics) and the Dutch edition ofPlayboy.
Books[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Bakker, Piet (2018-05-16)."Dit zijn de 39 Nederlandse online nieuwsmerken met het grootste bereik".Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek(in Dutch).Retrieved2019-12-14.
Bibliography[edit]
- Euromedia Research Group; Mary Kelly; et al., eds. (2004). "Netherlands".Media in Europe(3rd ed.).SAGE Publications.ISBN978-0-7619-4132-3.
- Jeroen Salman (2014).Pedlars and the Popular Press: Itinerant Distribution Networks in England and the Netherlands 1600-1850.Brill.ISBN9789004252844.
External links[edit]
- Netherlands Profile: Media,BBC News
- "Media Landscapes: Netherlands",Medialandscapes.org,Maastricht:European Journalism Centre