HOLY INDEPENDENCE

Financial editorial offices in the Netherlands are, despite the many newcomers, still trend-setters in the area of financial journalism. Members of these offices generally take a very independent position. Not only towards their sources, such as corporate industry, but also towards their publisher and in fact even towards the other editors at their own newspaper.

This independent position towards the publisher also implies that the financial editorial offices will in no case be used as an editorial support for, for example, commercial advertisers. One of the most efficient ways for a company to obtain "bad press" is to ask the publisher if it is able to send one of their financial journalists round because they happen to have a good story to tell about themselves.

That does not at all have to mean that you do not make any chance as a company for a good article in a large newspaper. On the contrary, Dutch financial journalists are usually very open minded towards good plans and achievements of businesses and they do want to give it broad attention in their editorial columns. One condition is then that they can talk out of free will and with an independent view to businesses and that they will receive a clear and honest answer to their, sometimes critical, questions. Better to give no answer than to purposely give a misleading one. That will always come out and you do not have to expect a real positive article for your company for years.

The free will with which Dutch financial journalists approach businesses and the independent position they take also implies that a good article in a large paper does not involve any obligations on the company's side. It is "free publicity", purely meant to inform the readers of a newspaper. The journalist will at the most quietly expect someone to remember him or her whenever there is anything new to be told, especially when it involves a scoop with a high news value.

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