Dutch Secretary of Culture and Media presents plan to save newspapers

Recently, the Brinkman committee articulated a plan to charge users when surfing the Web and to pass the proceeds on to the newspapers. This way, the printed media can be compensated for the work of editors. Newspapers face a hard task of recouping their editorial investment as free Internet media base themselves on the editorial efforts. However, the printed news media d not support this plan as they feel this will reduce their editorial independence.

Secretary Plasterk will shortly present plan to the House of Representatives based on the committee’s findings. The core of the plan consists of three parts. Firstly, the Secretary supports cooperation between the public broadcast corporations and newspapers. When these share their information, both could work more efficiently.

Secondly, Mr. Plasterk proposes to facilitate and support establishing a joint distribution network for newspapers. This helps the media to save significantly on the distribution of paper. The printed media are expected to present a plan to this effect before year’s end.

Mr. Plasterk, thirdly, has identified a large task for the printed news media to innovate. The Secretary makes available 12 million Euro for innovation and hiring young journalists.

The recommendation to charge for Internet use is not followed by the Secretary. Furthermore, he will not order the public broadcast corporations to become free of commercials.