The Friesch Dagblad, the newspaper on a Protestant Christian basis, has had a very special fund for years. Subscribers to the newspaper pay for people who would also like to read the newspaper, but do not have the money for it. The Friesch Dagblad therefore has a special fund. Moreover, this fund of the Friesch Dagblad is filled by people with a little more money. It is also special in the history of the press. What does that history of the press look like?
Subscription fund Friesch Dagblad
The subscription fund has been around for decades. It ensures that people who have a little more to spend see it as their responsibility to pay for others. According to them, reading the newspaper is too important in life to be neglected for financial reasons. Het Friesch Dagblad sees it as a form of solidarity and responsibility that a Christian newspaper can offer such a facility. In addition, the side ultimately belongs to the readers’ association. That really doesn’t exist anywhere in the Netherlands.
Fonds Friesch Dagblad supported by loyal donors
The fund is supported by many loyal donors who donate an amount each year to enable others to read the newspaper. However, now that the crisis is a fact, the fund is flooded with applications. Many people give up the newspaper because it is a high cost item. However, the large number of applications is now causing problems for the fund, because there are more applications than there is money. The board of the subscription fund is now making an urgent request for subscribers who are still willing and able to give something for their fellow man. They are asked to make a contribution or to increase the existing contribution. Naturally, there are rules associated with ,receiving a subscription to the newspaper.,
Books, parties, travel and wine
Although this initiative can be directly linked to the foundation of the newspaper and its readers, newspapers no longer exist solely as a news service. The Leeuwarder Courant has an initiative called Mijngenda, which allows readers to do all kinds of activities at a discount, but also win prizes. De Volkskrant organizes parties for singles, supplies wine, workshops and trips, but also books and films. De Telegraaf also offers wine, excursions, trips, books and films. AD Extra offers Algemeen Dagblad subscribers exclusive benefits with unique subscriber promotions, competitions and discounts on days out. This newspaper also offers wine, books, DVDs and other items.
The question is whether these kinds of matters should be part of the activities of a newspaper. This could jeopardize the news supply , because once affiliated with a product or facility, there is at least the appearance that there are conflicting interests. Jo Bardoelen and Jan Bierhoff already indicated in 1991 that they were concerned about this point. In the book Information, Backgrounds and Analyzes they already indicated that there was a real chance that developments in both the press and broadcasting could force new forms of dependence. According to them, current media applications could produce editors that are in line, that in particular conform to the pursuit of returns and optimal results.
Press is a young phenomenon
What is generally referred to in the Netherlands as ,the press is in fact only a very young phenomenon that has existed since 1850. This was mainly due to technical developments that made an actual newspaper in printed form possible in the first place., Later, all kinds of other media were added in image and sound.
The rise of the middle class has also been important for the emergence and continued existence of the media. This group was actually almost non-existent before 1850 and the country consisted of a leading and a serving group, a ruling and a subordinate. Only then did a group of small citizens, teachers, civil servants, clerks, office clerks and others emerge who would become the backbone of this society. The middle class could read, was interested in information that went beyond that of the village or city where they lived and they had money to purchase information facilities.
History of the press
- News facilities existed before the invention of the printing press. Julius Casear already had important news published on boards 100-44 years before Christ. This contained news from the Senate, but also information about military operations.
- In the Middle Ages, news was mainly exchanged in monasteries and royal courts. The minstrels were there for the plebs.
- Written newsletters were published during the Renaissance (1400-1600). Rich merchants, but also princes, clergy and scholars kept each other informed of the latest news.
- After the invention of printing (1440), pamphlets came into vogue. Special stories were printed and distributed on a few sheets. They were traded in stalls at markets. Assassination attempts and natural disasters in rhyme were favorites.
- When Johan van Oldebarnevelt was put to death in 1619, the Dutch government immediately distributed pamphlets to explain why this was the case.
- The first newspapers appear around that time. They provide news in a more or less fixed form and have a readership in mind that has more purchasing power. The first newspapers are difficult to make. They have to limit themselves to superficial news, because regents do not want certain things to be written about. Censorship is therefore commonplace.
- In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Gazettes de Hollande appeared in the Dutch Republic. They are generally made by French expatriates (Huguenots) and are intended for their fellow sufferers in the Dutch provinces. It contains a lot of criticism of French policy towards the Huguenots. At that time, newspapers were only read by the small upper layer of the population, because many people could not write or read. They receive the news through history prints that are exhibited at fairs, for example.
- The political press appeared around 1780. One of the first politically tinted newspapers is a weekly entitled De Post van den Neder-Rhyn. Newspapers write what they want much more often and defy censorship. In 1798, the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic adopted a Constitution in which the freedom of the press was declared sacred. Yet this law is violated and many magazines are closed down as a result. Only in 1848, when a constitutional amendment was introduced, did real freedom of the press arise. Although newspapers are having financial difficulties because the newspaper stamp tax was introduced in 1812, many newspapers were created in the 19th century, including Het Volk, Algemeen Handelsblad and De Tijd.
- In the 20th century there was suddenly an explosion of information. Technical developments, but also postal and telephone connections, suddenly make everything much easier to achieve. The Compulsory Education Act (1900) also ensures that almost everyone learns to read and write.
- The Second World War put an end to that. At that time, everything the Germans want must be published. Many newspapers disappear as a result. However, underground newspapers such as Het Parool, Trouw and De Waarheid were created.
- After the war everything gets going again, but many concentrations of plague are formed.
- In the 1980s there was another wave of mergers. Many regional newspapers are having a hard time, partly due to the arrival of TV. Of the 60 independent newspaper companies in 1950, only 21 remained in 1989. At the moment there are even fewer.
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