Stichting Het Nieuwe Parool: 'DPG Media saved our newspaper'

The resistance newspaper Het Parool refused to bow to power and money even after the war. Its founders established a foundation as owner and publisher, so that the newspaper would remain 'Free and Undaunted'. 'That DNA still lives on among our colleagues', says board member Jeroen Swart.

Het Parool grew into a successful newspaper, though it had to keep adapting to a changing media landscape. With the rise of television, daily newspapers lost advertisers and began seeking collaboration. By 1995, PCM was the largest publisher of quality newspapers in the Netherlands — with Stichting Het Parool still as majority shareholder.

When Het Parool itself became loss-making, the paper was spun off as an independent title in 2003 and De Persgroep (now DPG Media) purchased it. The original title foundation remained a shareholder of PCM and was renamed Stichting Democratie en Media (SDM). For the newspaper, Stichting Het Nieuwe Parool was established as guardian of its identity and independence. The resistance motto 'Vrij, Onverveerd' ('Free, Undaunted') can still be read alongside the masthead. This was something that Derk Sauer embodied as chair of the media foundation before his death following a sailing accident in October 2025. Board member Jeroen Swart, financial director at De Mediafederatie, is serving as interim chair.

How long has Het Parool been landing on your doormat?
'I have been reading it with great pleasure since I was young — my parents subscribed. I also worked for eight years as financial director at the publisher of Het Parool, and have been on the foundation's board since 2017.'

You protect the identity of the newspaper. What does 'Free and Undaunted', with its emphasis on Amsterdam, actually mean?
'You notice that the DNA of that resistance newspaper still lives on among colleagues — in the way they look at people in difficult situations, for instance, but also in their focus on the independent, the unconventional. You see that reflected in the attention given to Amsterdam. That city is, after all, the economic and cultural centre of the Netherlands.'

Do you ever steer the editorial leadership on matters of content?
'No, the content of Het Parool rarely comes up in our quarterly conversations. There does need to be a balance; if we see a fundamental shift — if the newspaper were to become, for example, the mouthpiece of an undemocratic movement — we would intervene. We also heard that there were discussions on the newsroom floor about the war in Gaza. We do not insert ourselves into those, but we do note that the newspaper naturally has many Jewish readers in Amsterdam. We then ask the editorial leadership: how would you handle that?'

Can the newspaper maintain quality with such a small newsroom?
'Ha, we do feel a bit like the underdog with this newspaper, and perhaps the newsroom has to work a little harder than that of de Volkskrant. What gives some hope are the many young faces in the newsroom. Het Parool also tries to free up journalists for pieces aimed at Amsterdam readers, and for that reason takes foreign news articles from Trouw and political ones from Algemeen Dagblad. Our foundation sets one hard requirement: content sharing within DPG is only permitted at the editorial leadership's initiative. It would be unacceptable if that had to come from management.'

Do you ever have to 'go into resistance' within DPG Media on behalf of the newspaper?
'On the contrary, we are very happy with DPG. Director Van Thillo saved Het Parool from certain death in 2003, after it became independent. De Persgroep was willing to invest in the newspaper, and was thereby also able to purchase the other newspapers later, with Het Parool as a bridgehead. That history gives us as a foundation an exceptionally good relationship with DPG. That said, there can still be robust conversations with the newspaper about the editorial budget — we are kept informed of those. DPG has a love for news newspapers but does not operate out of charity.'

Your foundation does hold influence with a 0.53 percent priority share.
'We work together with the other media foundations and with SDM. SDM has been the most critical in recent years; it is also larger and has staff of its own. I recall a discussion about the Supervisory Board. SDM felt that the percentage of women needed to increase. DPG may see us as small, troublesome shareholders — yes. But they also have respect for us. They understand where the foundations come from. When RTL Netherlands was acquired, Van Thillo appreciated the fact that we gave our unanimous approval, even though it was not strictly necessary.'

Your chair and media entrepreneur Derk Sauer was still part of that. You are now looking for a successor?
'Sauer was a remarkable person who had experienced a great deal in the world of journalism. During our discussions he never minced his words and often brought fresh, original insights. I always greatly enjoyed that. We are now first looking for a new chair. That person can then also help think about the fifth board member we are still looking for — someone thoroughly versed in the digital world.'

Does Stichting Het Nieuwe Parool also fund journalistic projects?
'From our preference share in DPG we receive a fixed return of around 25,000 euros per year. We do not use that to fund journalistic projects — those must come out of the regular budget. We make money available for extra things such as lectures or the Parool Film Festival. In 2024 we made twenty thousand euros available, and a great celebration was put on with it.'