''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

. 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 and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

, ''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, a type of agreement used by U.S. states * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a t ...

. 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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

newspaper closely linked to the Catholic People's Party and the Catholic pillar. The paper temporarily ceased publication in 1941. On its re-founding in 1945, its office moved from

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

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 ...

. 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 ''De 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, ''de 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. Print circulation remains the third largest of the Netherlands, after ''

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 ...

'' and '' Algemeen Dagblad''.

Typeface

The typeface Capitolium News by Gerard Unger (2006) has been the main type used in ''de Volkskrant'' since 2 December 2006.

References

External links

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