International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Despite its open borders and its central location between big European countries, the Netherlands (with a population of 16.3 million) has its own tradition with respect to both press and broadcasting, a tradition that is closely related to the country's overall socio-political structure during most of the twentieth century. In the early years of the twenty-first century we notice, however, that this “Dutch model” is eroding rapidly and beginning to follow a more “European” or even “global” media model, in which concentration (→  Concentration in Media Systems ) and internationalization have become paramount. In terms of Hallin and Mancini's typology (2004) , the Dutch media model fits into the “democratic corporatist” category, relying heavily on the role of organized social groups in society, as against a more individualistic concept of representation in the “liberal” model and considerable levels of politicization, state intervention, and clientelism in the “polarized pluralist” model (→  Public Broadcasting Systems ). The Dutch press has a strong tradition of private enterprise, and the basic model of Dutch press policies is, as elsewhere in the western world, one of freedom from state intervention (→  Freedom of the Press, Concept of ). The Dutch press tradition goes back to the seventeenth century, when the relatively tolerant and prosperous Dutch republic served as a safe ... log in or subscribe to read full text