De Telegraaf

De Telegraaf is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, with a daily circulation of approximately 800,000. De Telegraaf ("The Telegraph") is based in Amsterdam.

A subsidiary, Basismedia BV, publishes a daily free newspaper, Sp!ts (which in Dutch means both "rush hour" and "sharp point").

Editorial Content

This national newspaper contains many "sensational" and sports-related articles, and one or more pages whose content is supplied by the gossip-magazine Privé ("Private"). The financial news coverage, however, is more serious in tone. Politically, the paper leans towards the populist right. In the recent past, editorial commentary often supported the views of the late Pim Fortuyn.

History

De Telegraaf was founded by Henry Tindal, who simultaneously started another paper De Courant ("The Gazette"). The first issue appeared on 1 January 1893. Following Tindal's death on 31 January 1902 the printer Hak Holdert, with backing from financiers, took over De Telegraaf and De Courant on 12 September 1902. This proved to be a good investment, particularly with regard to De Courant, enabling Holdert between 1903 and 1923 to take over one newspaper after another, suspending publication as he went. He added the name Amsterdamsche Courant ("Amsterdam Gazette") as a subtitle to De Telegraaf, and Het Nieuws van den Dag ("The News of the Day") to De Courant. In 1926, he began construction of a new printing facility at the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam, designed by J.F. Staal and G.J. Langhout. Construction was completed and the building occupied in 1930. At one point, in June 1966, the building was besieged by angry construction workers and Provo followers, after falsely reporting that a victim of labour dispute had not been killed by the police, but by a co-worker. In 1974, De Telegraaf moved to its current location in the Basisweg.

During World War I, when the Netherlands was officially neutral, Holdert's French sympathies and his pro-English standpoint caused De Telegraaf to be the focus of some controversy. During World War II, the Telegraaf companies published pro-German papers, which led to a twenty year ban on publication after the war. The prohibition was, however, lifted in 1949 and De Telegraaf flourished anew to become the biggest newspaper in the Netherlands.

De Courant/Nieuws van de Dag ceased publication in 1998.

Since 21 March 2004, De Telegraaf has also appeared on Sundays.

Finances

De Telegraaf's holding company, N.V. Holdingmaatschappij De Telegraaf, is minority-owned (about 30%) by the Van Puijenbroek family from Goirle. It not only controls the newspapers De Telegraaf and Sp!ts, but is also a stakeholder in Channel SBS6, the regional newspaper publisher Wegener, and the Dutch press agency ANP (28.4% since 2001).

Hollandse Dagbladcombinatie, or HDC-Media, which publishes the Noordhollands Dagblad, Haarlems Dagblad, Leidsch Dagblad, IJmuider Courant, and De Gooi- en Eemlander is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Holdingmaatschappij De Telegraaf.

Mediagroep Limburg, publisher of the Limburgs Dagblad and Dagblad De Limburger, also belongs to De Telegraaf.