NRC Handelsblad to expand European online media network
NRC International, the English-language web version of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, will be expanding its cooperation with other English-language websites in Europe and the Netherlands.
Alongside the existing partnership with Spiegel Online, the English-language section of the website of the German magazine Der Spiegel, NRC Handelsblad has undertaken a new partnership with the website of the leading Danish newspaper Politiken. In the Netherlands, NRC will work together with the website of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (de Wereldomroep).
The expansion is journalistically significant, occuring the same year that European parliament elections will take place, says Birgit Donker, the chief editor of NRC Handelsblad. “Through this extension of our European network, it will be possible to develop joint European projects, such as online chats with European politicians,” according to Donker. NRC International has already organised such chats in English with Spiegel Online, on the credit crisis and the election of Barack Obama as the new US president. “Additionally, the cooperation can give impetus to our reporting on subjects affecting both the Netherlands and Denmark. I’m thinking about issues like the cartoon controversy, the lauch of Geert Wilders' film Fitna and the rise of the populist right,” says Donker.
NRC Handelsblad, Spiegel Online and Politiken are striving for a further extension of their European network, to include other English-language websites. "This network will give readers a bird's eye view of what is happening in Europe from some of the most respected journalists in the business," says Politiken chief editor Stig Ørskov.
Additionally, NRC International will partner with the English-language website of Radio Netherlands Worldwide. “Their extensive experience with English-language reporting on subjects both domestic and international, as well as their wide-ranging multimedia offerings, form the basis for this co-operation”, says Donker. The cooperation will initially begin with cross-references to each other’s stories on their respective websites, and with joint production of news reports. In the longer-term other forms of cooperation will be made possible, expects Rik Rensen, the chief editor of Radio Netherlands. “Radio Netherlands Worldwide is not only prepared to extend its reach abroad, but also to examine if a joining of forces on other fronts could be fruitful,” according to Rensen.