Jacob Jan "Jaap" Metz (6 August 1941 – 27 May 2016) was a Dutch politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

between 1982 and 1986. Before his time in office Metz was a journalist at ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; ) is the largest Netherlands, Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, ''de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief since ...

''.

Career

Metz was born on 6 August 1941 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. After completing his primary and secondary education in Amsterdam Metz started working for the newspaper ''

'' in 1962. He started as financial-economic editor and later also worked on police news. He had a three-year stint as journalist at ''

Algemeen Handelsblad ''Algemeen Handelsblad'' was a Dutch daily newspaper founded in 1828 by stockbroker . Originally liberal, economically focused, and Amsterdam-based, the paper merged in 1970 with the ''Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant'' to form ''NRC Handelsblad''. H ...

'' from 1969 to 1972 and then returned to ''De Telegraaf'' where he became head of the newsservice. Metz quit his job in 1982 and became politically active in the municipal council of

Opmeer Opmeer (; West Frisian (dialect), West Frisian: ''Opmar'' or ''Obmar'') is a municipality and town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland (region), West-Frisia. Population centres The municipality o ...

in September. On 22 November he also became member of the

for the

. Shortly before being sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives information surfaced on paid advice Metz had given to a real estate company while working for ''De Telegraaf''. Metz allegedly influenced information that was published on the company in the newspaper and came to blows with fellow journalist

Peter R. de Vries Peter Rudolf de Vries (14 November 1956 – 15 July 2021) was a Dutch Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and crime reporter. His television program (''Crime Reporter''; 1995–2012) covered high-profile cases and set a Dutch te ...

. Party fraction leader

Ed Nijpels Eduardus Hermannus Theresia Maria Nijpels (born 1 April 1950) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and nonprofit director. Biography Nijpels studied Civil law at the Utrecht University obtaining a Maste ...

accepted Metz' explanation that the advice given did not concern core business of the company. Several months later newspaper ''

De Tijd ''De Tijd'' (; ) is a Belgian daily newspaper that mainly focuses on business and economics. It is published by Mediafin and mainly distributed in Flanders and Brussels. It is the Flemish counterpart of the French-language daily '' L'Echo'', wh ...

'' claimed Nijpels had been blackmailed by Metz, so that the latter could keep his seat in the House. Metz pressed charges of slander, defamation and insult against the newspaper. The charges were dropped two years later. Metz remained a backbencher throughout his term in office, which ended on 3 June 1986. He died in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

on 27 May 2016, aged 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metz, Jaap 1941 births 2016 deaths Journalists from Amsterdam Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors in North Holland Politicians from Amsterdam People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians