LEADING DUTCH NEWSPAPERS OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY

ALGEMEEN HANDELSBLAD and NIEUWE ROTTERDAMSE COURANT

On microfiche

Algemeen Handelsblad, 1828-1970

The Algemeen Handelsblad (AH) was launched in Amsterdam on 5 January 1828 by Jacob Willem van den Biessen to provide business news, but soon acquired a political complexion. It reported on Belgium during the crisis of separation from the Netherlands in 1830, providing a less rosy-colored view than the official government Staats Courant and eventually came out for Belgian independence, which led to opprobrium from the business community and to Van den Biesen’s temporary withdrawal from the paper. He soon reacquired it together with the booksellers Diederichs. Although its editors called the paper neutral, it quickly assumed a " moderate liberal" stance. It campaigned on various occasions in its early years for fundamental constitutional reform, but did not go as far as calling for direct elections. The paper published excellent articles on the national economy and finances, on trade policy and the colonies and gained in influence, so much so that the government tried to curb it by setting up a rival newspaper, which failed.

Van den Biesen was succeeded by Louis Keyzer, an advocate, who strengthened the liberal character of the paper and expanded reporting especially through the use of telegraphy. In 1853 he defended prime minister Thorbecke in his decision to permit the reestablishment of the Catholic religious hierarchy in the Netherlands, which costs the paper a substantial number of subscribers. By 1840 the paper was appearing six times per week for a subscription cost of six guilders and by 1851 Algemeen Handelsblad had 5400 subscribers.

Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant, 1844-1970

The Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (NRC) first saw the light of day in the port city on 1 January 1844 as the creation of the Catholic bookseller H. Nijgh and was appearing daily by September of that year. Nijgh had started his paper in the belief that as the second city of the country Rotterdam needed a mouthpiece to defend its municipal and commercial interests. The editors also wanted to propagate "real constitutional concepts" and subject the actions of government to constitutional control. Finally and above all the founders wished to promote the principle of free trade.

Thanks to Nijgh, the NRC became the most technically advanced of Dutch newspapers. It was the first to set up its own carrier-pigeon service and managed to publish the news from the colonies overseas faster than anyone else, which remained a riddle even for the Dutch government. Under editor-in-chief H.H. Tels it became a "political organ of the first order".

The paper became the "premier representative of Dutch journalism, both domestically and internationally". Its reputation attained world-class stature through its constantly expanding, multifaceted and swift coverage of the news and its reliable reporting. It maintained its own correspondents and telegraph service and in this way was able to "neutralize" the often one-sided reporting of the international press agencies, especially in the years of the First World War (1914-1918), in which the Netherlands did note take part. The newspaper aspired to an air of calm and trustworthiness through its sober layout, resisting the publication of photos, for example, until the 1920s.

The leading papers of record: AH and NRC

Technically speaking, Algemeen Handelsblad was a couple of steps behind NRC until opening a new plant in 1903. Algemeen Handelsblad introduced photos as early as 1905. AH published its first telegraph reports in 1847 and obtained its own wireless installation in 1904. NRC installed telephone service through Bell Netherlands in 1895.

Ideologically, Algemeen Handelsblad was similar to NRC. The Liberal Union founded in 1885 took ideas from both papers. Under Charles Boissevain (1842-1927), Algemeen Handelsblad introduced the daily editorial into Dutch journalism (1887). He himself wrote some 4200 critical and polemical pieces in his column "Van Dag tot Dag"(From day to day). Algemeen Handelsblad also had the first correspondent based in The Hague to report on government politics. Louis Keyzer of AH and H.H. Tels of NRC can be considered the first examples of the "respectable modern journalist" in the Netherlands. By the mid-1930s Algemeen Handelsblad had 50,000 subscribers and NRC 35,000.

During the Second World War and German occupation of the country, both papers were placed under German tutelage and continued to appear in increasingly smaller editions until the Liberation. In the summer of 1945 they were reestablished in their old form after being purged of Nazi editorial and commercial influences.

Papers merge 1970

With their similar worldviews and regard for quality reporting, it is not surprising that the idea of cooperation between the two newspapers arose at several junctures. The papers held discussions about working together on three occasions in the early twentieth century (1914, 1926 and 1929) and finally merged in 1970 to form NRC Handelsblad. With this merger, NRC Handelsblad continued the proud tradition of quality journalism inaugurated by its forerunners and is today everywhere regarded as the leading Dutch newspaper of record.

(A micro-edition of the combined paper starting in 1970 is also available from MMF. Please inquire for details).

Source: M. Schneider, with J. Hemels, De Nederlandsche krant 1618-1978 (4th ed. 1979, Baarn: Het wereldvenster).