The Netherlands Press Fund provides loans and subventions to print and digital media (like dailies, non-dailies, magazines and websites) as well for research into the press industry.
The foundation
The Fund was set up as an foundation in 1974 and became an independent authority financed by the Government in 1988. From that moment on the Fund has possessed corporate rights by the Media law and decides independently on subsidy applies form media businesses. The Press Fund is financed out of the revenues from advertising messages generated by the Radio and Television Advertising Foundation and the commercial broadcasting establishments. Each year the Minister for Culture may determine if it is necessary that the Press Fund receives new finances, considering the available resources of the Fund.
Board of Directors
The Netherlands Press Fund is being run by a board whose members are appointed and dismissed by Royal Decree on the recommendation of the Minister for Culture. Board membership may not be combined with an employment with a Ministry or with a board membership of or an employment with a newspaper, magazine or publishing company. The board of the Press Fund decides on applies for financial help. There are six members of the Board:
- Dr. G.W. Noomen (chairman)
- Mr. E. van Erp (treasurer)
- Prof. dr. L.S.J. d’Haenens
- Drs. D. Ramlal
- Dr. V.P. Kouwenhoven
- Dr. M. Wermuth
The office of the Fund is being managed by:
- Dr. L.H.A. Lichtenberg (director)
- Drs. A.R. van Dijk (deputy director)
- Ms. Y. Janmaat (secretary)
Policy on subsidies
At the moment there are 7 subsidies. An applicant can sent in a request for subsidy at any moment of the year, except for the last submitted subsidy, called the “press innovation subsidy” for which there are two deadlines in 2010, namely February 15th and September 15th. This latter subsidy is designed for journalistic activities with an innovative character and came into operation on January 1st, 2010.
Newspapers or magazines have to live up to a number of criteria in order to apply with success for this financial support. According to those criteria it is only possible to provide dailies, non dailiesor magazines with temporary loans, credit facilities or subsidies - subsidies only in special occasions - for their reorganisation or restructuring plans in order to make them profitable again in the near future. Financial support may only be provided for press products which meet also criteria such as:
- to a significant extent they must bring news, commentaries and background information covering the diverse aspects of present-day society, with a view to political opinion-forming;
- they must be edited by an independent editing team on the basis of a statute expressing the editorial identity of that press product;
- they must be generally available in consideration for a purchase price;
- the continuation of the press product involved is threatened or rendered impossible and the requisite support cannot be obtained elsewhere;
Applies for subsidies can be sent in digitally via this website. The application procedure is set up in Dutch. When you intend to apply for a subsidy or you want to obtain more information on the several active subsidies, you can contact us at:
E: info(at)svdp.nl
T: 070-361 71 11
More information on the activities of te Netherlands Press Fund is also available on www.presssupport.org.