oa Tien jaar na Fortuyn

Ten years after Pim Fortuyn: criticism and accountability at Dutch newsrooms

Pressures from politicians and the public have led to greater demands for media accountability. Moreover, structural shifts such as media concentration, increasing competition and the advent of new technologies have obliged media to strengthen the relationship with their reader, viewer and listener and to be more responsive to them. This article shows the results of a multiple case-study at three leading newsrooms in the Netherlands on how they cope with criticism on their performance and increasing pressures for accountability and responsiveness. It shows that new accountability policies and instruments were introduced, mainly at the initiative of editors-in-chief, while journalists in the newsroom showed more reluctance.