Introduction
The Netherlands Council for Journalism is an independent body of self-regulation for the media, where interested parties can go with complaints about journalistic activities, which in their opinion have not been properly handled by the medium itself. The Council assesses whether a journalist has done his/her job carefully and whether a publication has exceeded the limits of journalistic ethics.
At present the Netherlands Council for Journalism is established and maintained by a foundation called Stichting Raad voor de Journalistiek. The foundation includes:
- the Netherlands Union of Journalists (Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten)
- the Netherlands Society of Chief-Editors (Nederlands Genootschap van Hoofdredacteuren)
- several coordinating organisations of printed press
- coordinating organisations of public and commercial broadcasting
The foundation's board appoints the members, chairmen and secretaries of the Council. The Council consists of four (vice) chairperson, ten member-journalists and ten non-journalist members. The chair is a high-profile journalist, the substitutes are members of the judiciary. The member-journalists work in newsrooms or as editors and freelancers. And non-journalist members have different positions in the foundation. The secretary and acting secretary must work as lawyers.
Remit
Print, online, broadcasting, & social media, as long as it regards journalistic conduct.
