''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...

, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized centrist

compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in Britis ...

. Pieter Klok is the current

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

History and profile

Amsterdam Wibautstraat De Volkskrant 001

''De Volkskrant'' was founded in 1919 and has been a daily morning

since 1921. Originally ''de Volkskrant'' was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

newspaper closely linked to the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

and the Catholic pillar. The paper temporarily ceased publication in 1941. On its re-founding in 1945, its office moved from Den Bosch to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. It became a left-wing newspaper in the 1960s, but began softening its stance in 1980. On 23 August 2006 the ''Volkskrant'' published its 25,000th edition. In 1968, the ownership of De Volkskrant and Het Parool merged into a new parent, De Perscombinatie. Het Parool gained control due to the larger investment in the parent. De Perscombinatie started joint printing. In 1975, Trouw joined. In 1994 De Perscombinatie acquired Uitgeverij Meulenhoff & Co and became PCM Uitgevers. In 1995 PCM acquired the larger Nederlandse Dagblad Unie, owners of the Algemeen Dagblad en NRC Handelsblad. In 1996 it acquired the Volkskrant. PCM was acquired in 2009 by De Persgroep from Belgium and in December 2009 renamed De Persgroup Nederland, now DPG Media Nederland. In 2010, Pieter Broertjes completed his 20-year tenure as editor-in-chief. In 2013 ''de Volkskrant'' was awarded the European Newspaper of the Year in the category of nationwide newspapers. In October 2006, ''Volkskrant'' announced it intended to start publishing a free version of its paper, targeting young people. As PCM gave no permission this never happened.

Circulation

In 2001 the circulation of ''De Volkskrant'' was 335,000 copies. The daily circulation of the paper was 326,000 copies in 2002, dwindling to some 235,000 in 2011. The paper has since then heavily lost circulation. Print circulation remains the third of the Netherlands, after '' De Telegraaf'' and '' Algemeen Dagblad''.

Typeface

The typeface Capitolium News by

Gerard Unger Gerard Unger (22 January 1942 – 23 November 2018) was a Dutch graphic and type designer. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam from 1963–67, and subsequently worked at Total Design, Prad and Joh. Enschedé. In 1975, he es ...

(2006) has been the main type used in ''de Volkskrant'' since 2 December 2006.

References

External links

* (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Volkskrant 1919 establishments in the Netherlands Dutch-language newspapers Mass media in Amsterdam Daily newspapers published in the Netherlands Newspapers established in 1919