Dutch government to employ 60 journalists - but will this affect their journalistic objectivity?

Posted by Helena Deards on May 14, 2009 at 1:59 PM

Dutch media minister Ronald Plasterk has taken the decision to make 60 young journalists government employees - although in practice they will be working for the Netherland's 30 national and regional daily newspapers. The scheme is due to Plasterk's observation that, during this difficult period for newspapers, younger journalists are the first to lose their jobs when cutbacks are necessary.

Plasterk has reserved €4 million for the scheme, which will begin after the summer break. He also has a further €8 million available for future aid to the sector. The Netherlands are by no means the first country to give aid to its newspapers. The most high profile has been Sarkozy's bailout of the French newspaper industry, and in the US Washington publishers have recently been awarded a 40% tax break. There is also ongoing debate in the UK about the best solution for struggling regional publications.

However, financial aid from governments to newspapers is by no means without its pitfalls. The conundrum is that whilst, as Barack Obama recently said, newspapers are essential to democracy, where do the loyalties of a newspaper saved by its government's money lie? Similarly, in the case of journalists dependent on their government for their pay cheque, will their reporting remain as unbiased as it would otherwise have been?

Source: NIS News