Netherlands media guide

Newspapers report on the death of crime journalist Peter de Vries, who died in July 2021 after being shot as he left a television studio

The Dutch approach to public broadcasting is unique. Programmes are made by groups which reflect political or religious currents, or other interests. These organisations are allocated airtime on TV and radio, in line with the number of members they have.

Public radio and TV face stiff competition from commercial stations. Viewers have access to a wide range of domestic and foreign channels, thanks mainly to one of the highest cable take-up rates in Europe. Every province has at least one local public TV channel. The three national public TV stations enjoy high audience shares.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the constitution, as is free speech. Newspaper ownership is highly concentrated.

There were 16.3 million internet users by December 2021, comprising 95% of the population (Worldinternetstats.com).

• Media guides by BBC Monitoring

Press

• Algemeen Dagblad - national, daily

• NRC Handelsblad - national, daily

• De Telegraaf - national, daily

• De Volkskrant - national, daily

• Trouw - national, daily

• Het Parool - Amsterdam daily

• Het Financieele Dagblad - financial daily

• Elsevier - news weekly

• Vrij Nederland - news weekly

Television

• NOS - public broadcaster

• BVN TV - public, for Dutch-speakers abroad

• RTL - commercial, operates RTL4, RTL5, RTL7 and RTL8

• SBS - commercial, operates SBS6, Net5 and Veronica

Radio

• NOS - public radio, operates news and information station Radio 1, music network Radio 2, pop station 3FM, cultural station Radio 4

• Sky Radio - popular commercial FM station, continuous music

• Radio 538 - popular commercial FM station, pop and dance music

• BNR Nieuwsradio - commercial, news

News agency/online

• Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP) - news agency

• RNW Media - former international radio, now a public multimedia NGO

• DutchNews.nl - news in English