To the front page

11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

No explanation after Van Gogh murder

21 February 2007 - After the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004, Amsterdam made no effort whatsoever to inform the foreign press of initiatives that were taken to prevent tensions from escalating. This was said at a discussion meeting at de Balie last night.

A panel of correspondents of foreign media discussed the image of the Netherlands. According to Annette Birschel of the Foreign Press Association, cities like Utrecht, The Hague and Leyden did make an effort to inform foreign journalists.

Gerald de Hemptinne of the French press agency AFP told that during a press conference on the new coalition agreement, he had been waving emphatically to ask a question, but he did not get a chance. Afterwards he was told: you should have waved.

According to him, the incident illustrates that the Netherlands is still occupied with dealing with the incidents of the last couple of years, making us somewhat oblivious to what is happening outside.

Isabel Ferrer of the Spanish newspaper El País saw matters slightly different. If something happens in the Netherlands, not only will the incident be reported in the newspapers, but also the response in foreign media. Why should one be so concerned with what foreign media write, she wondered.

The journalists agreed that a lot has changed in the Netherlands during the past years, but that it is an interesting country to work in. Given the size of the country, quite a lot of stories are reported in the foreign media.

Sometimes the correspondents themselves experience how the social climate has changed. For example, Toby Sterling of the Associated Press had to hand in his Dutch passport, because he refused to give up his American nationality.

Robin Pascoe told how she recently started getting comments about her pronunciation of the Dutch language not being perfect. Pascoe is strictly speaking not a foreign correspondent. She writes for Dutchnews, an internet newspaper with Dutch news in English.

There are all sorts of websites at which expats complain about the Netherlands, but Dutchnews does not want to be such a site. The newspaper in principle reports the same news as Dutch media, so ‘not what we think foreigners want to read’.

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