On Media Concentration and Resilient Freelance Journalists
Chapter 6 The Netherlands On media concentration and resilient freelance journalists Hanne Vandenberghe & Leen d’Haenens Introduction The Netherlands is a mid-sized country in Western Europe with a population of 17.4 million people. In 2019, the Netherlands was ranked 17th in the world based on its USD 914 billion gross domestic product, and 13th based on gross domestic product per capita (USD 53,016). At the end of 2017, minister Arie Slob (a member of the Christian Union, a socially conservative, centre-left Christian-democratic party) took over the media portfolio from State Secretary Sander Dekker (a member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy). Later, Mr. Slob allocated more money to journalism subsidies thanks to an investigative journalism scheme. Moreover, since 2019, a pilot scheme worth EUR 2.85 million, aimed at professionalising public local media services, was put in place to subsidise the appointment of journalists and support staff (e.g., managing volunteers, training neighbourhood reporters, supervising trainees) and improve the continuity, spread, depth, and quality of the local news infra- structure. Politically the Netherlands is considered a mature parliamentary democracy and a welfare state, although it became less generous on all fronts in 2020 compared with previous decades. Freedom in the World 2021: status “free” (Score: 98/100, down from three years in a row at 99). Although known for its tolerance and political rights completely safe- guarded in the Dutch society, tensions are mounting between its majority population and the Muslim and immigrant population. Therefore, the 1-point loss from 2016 to 2017 can be attributed to rising anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic sentiment as well as Muslims and immigrants experiencing harassment and intimidation.
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