Nazi Germany occupies the Netherlands. Journalist Frans Goedhart observes that many newspaper owners, driven by ‘fear, cowardice, and greed,’ quickly yield to the enemy. Even before the occupier imposes censorship, they encourage their journalists to practice self-censorship.

Frans Goedhart launches the Pieter ‘t Hoen Newsletter, a resistance newspaper that would later be renamed Het Parool . He accuses journalists from mainstream newspapers of following the bad example set by newspaper owners far too readily. Goedhart calls on everyone to resist: “Don’t give in, don’t bow down, don’t collaborate with the enemy!”

The Netherlands seems almost liberated. Members of the editorial staff of the underground newspaper *Het Parool* establish the *Het Parool* Foundation. This will allow them to continue publishing the resistance newspaper as a legal daily after the liberation.

A foundation is an unusual legal form for a newspaper, but the founders believe that daily newspapers can only perform their task properly if they are independent of profit-seeking shareholders. A foundation has no shareholders and does not seek profit. In this way, they work towards an independent press.

First edition of the legal, independent daily Het Parool. But note: ‘independent’ does not mean ‘neutral.’ Het Parool becomes a clearly social-democratic newspaper. In a modern democracy, newspapers have the task of feeding public debate and taking a stand within it, the founders believe. Each daily independent, but with a clear identity of its own.

Het Parool Foundation establishes a board of trustees, a supervisory body. The members advise on politically and journalistically sensitive issues, oversee financial and commercial policy and – very importantly – the preservation of the newspaper’s social-democratic identity. An additional guarantee for the newspaper’s independence.

The newspaper has many subscribers and is essentially in excellent financial health, but it has nonetheless gone through some financially difficult years. The main lesson: an idealistic mission does not exempt a company operating in a free market from keeping a tight rein on its finances.

Daily newspaper Het Parool is incorporated into a public limited company (NV). This increases the company’s decisiveness in the free market. Supervision of financial and commercial operations is transferred to a more expert Supervisory Board.

Het Parool Foundation retains all shares and remains responsible for appointing the editor-in-chief. However, the foundation is now at a greater distance from the business operations. With the board of trustees no longer needing to oversee financial and commercial policy, the foundation board now focuses more strongly on safeguarding the identity of Het Parool.

All national daily newspapers face strong competition from television, where advertising is now permitted. The advertising revenue of Het Parool declines, also due to competition from magazines. These now allow for full-color advertisements on high-quality glossy paper.

NV Het Parool taps into new revenue streams with its own book publishing house and travel agency. But the most important response is a merger with the independent Catholic daily de Volkskrant. A single company is formed, Perscombinatie, in which both newspapers retain their own editorial staff and identity. Het Parool Foundation safeguards the identity of Het Parool.

Perscombinatie acquires the Protestant daily Trouw. Like Het Parool and de Volkskrant, the newspaper retains its own editorial staff and identity.

Het Parool Foundation starts the Pieter ‘t Hoen Fund. The incentive fund annually finances the studies or a special project of one or more permanent editors of Het Parool. They are allowed to work on this ‘on the boss’s time.’ The name of the fund is a tribute to Frans Goedhart, who fifty years earlier started the Nieuwsbrief van Pieter ’t Hoen , the predecessor of the illegal Parool.

Perscombinatie expands further and acquires book publisher Meulenhoff & Co. A year later, the Nederlandse Dagblad Unie follows, with NRC Handelsblad and Algemeen Dagblad. Again, the starting point is that the newspapers retain their own identity.

The company is given a new name: PCM Uitgevers NV. Het Parool Foundation is a major shareholder with – at the start of the new millennium – a majority stake of 57 percent. From owner of what began as a resistance newspaper with a first stenciled edition of five hundred copies, Het Parool Foundation has grown into co-owner of the largest publisher of quality newspapers in the Netherlands.

PCM hits rough waters. Structural financial problems and declining profits force cutbacks. The publisher decides to make the loss-making daily Het Parool independent; a controversial decision that also causes tension within the Het Parool Foundation. The Belgian media house De Persgroep becomes the new owner of Het Parool in 2003. After the acquisition by the Belgians, a new foundation will safeguard the identity of Het Parool: Stichting Het Nieuwe Parool.

With the acquisition of Het Parool by the Belgians, the link between the daily newspaper and the Het Parool Foundation is broken. The foundation remains a shareholder of PCM and changes its name to Democracy and Media Foundation (SDM). This makes the distinction from the independent daily Het Parool clear. SDM reorients itself on its mission. It is certain that newspapers still have great significance for pluralistic debate and the resilience of democracy. SDM therefore sees maintaining the newspaper division of PCM as an important task, even though the daily newspaper market is uncertain and newspapers often can no longer survive independently. To finance the newspapers, PCM focuses on broadening the business base, for example with general and educational books.

PCM is seeking a strategic partner or a financial investor to restore the group to financial health. The pressure is mounting as the figures for the first quarter of 2004 are more disappointing than expected. Nevertheless, the British firm Apax appears to be a suitable financing partner. This is due, among other things, to its highest bid, its respect for the wishes of the Het Parool Foundation, the possibility of co-investment, and its very clear ambition. In a transaction that was later heavily criticized, SDM and the other shareholders sold 52.5 percent of their PCM shares to Apax.

Apax fails to meet expectations. Capital investments are not forthcoming and a new strategy is slow to emerge. When it does, according to SDM, it is at odds with the Shareholder Agreement and SDM cannot endorse it. The new chairman and director of daily newspapers who have joined PCM clash, dissatisfaction grows on the work floor, and an exodus of experienced staff looms. In March 2007, Apax withdraws from PCM. SDM takes over Apax’s share package, thereby acquiring 94.7 percent of the PCM shares.

A new Board of Directors gets right to work, and employees on the front lines roll up their sleeves to help. But the credit crisis that erupts in 2007 exacerbates the structural problem of declining advertising revenue. The banks severely restricted lending, putting PCM’s very survival in immediate jeopardy.

The Belgian media house De Persgroep (which acquired Het Parool in 2003) takes a majority stake in PCM in 2009 and saves the group. SDM retains a minority stake. It also receives a priority share that gives a say over the independence and continuity of the titles Trouw and de Volkskrant. The name PCM is changed to De Persgroep Nederland.

A consequence of the acquisition is that De Persgroep must divest the NRC Mediagroep – the publisher of NRC Handelsblad and nrc.nxt – . The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMA) would only agree to the acquisition on that condition. Otherwise, De Persgroep would gain too dominant a position in the Amsterdam region.

SDM invests in the founding of De Correspondent. In addition to a 10 percent stake, SDM receives a priority share that gives special control and enables SDM to safeguard the principles behind the platform. In 2014, SDM also acquires a minority stake in NRC Mediagroep, which has come back onto the market. The Belgian media group Mediahuis acquires a majority stake.

SDM is launching a fund with an open call for proposals. The fund will finance projects and initiatives that contribute to independent and critical media and to a democratic constitutional state characterized by integrity and resilience. An executive director will manage the fund with a staff of several employees. The fund’s activities will be financed from the proceeds of the sale of the majority stake in PCM in 2009.

Mediahuis takes over SDM’s stake in NRC Mediagroep.

Following the renaming of De Persgroep Nederland to DPG Media and the announcement of the acquisition of the Sanoma publishing group, the acquisition will be finalized in early 2020. As a result, SDM will become the controlling shareholder of the largest publisher of newspapers and magazines in the Netherlands.

SDM has existed as a fund for ten years. Research shows that SDM makes a social impact as a catalyst, core funder, and launching partner. Long-term involvement and active collaboration are keywords for success. Several pilots, including Public Interest Litigation, the Keti Koti Dialogue Tables, and Bureau Burgerberaad, were able to grow into structural players in public debate, among other areas, partly because of this.

79% of grantees experienced internal strengthening thanks to SDM’s support, while 83% indicated that the support enabled them to bring about change in society. For example, because their work was featured in the media, contributed to academic, political, or public debate, or influenced policy-making or policy changes. SDM’s involvement as a funder of an initiative often served as a signal of its quality and relevance, prompting other foundations to follow suit. SDM also appears unafraid to be a trailblazer. For example, social initiatives such as The Black Archives and Report Islamophobia were able to count on support from an early stage.

DPG Media acquires RTL Nederland. The acquisition is rightly the subject of intense debate, as does this not make the largest newspaper publisher in the Netherlands too dominant?

SDM notes that the information landscape has changed beyond recognition this millennium. A handful of international tech companies, including Meta and Google’s parent company, control not only public debate but also the advertising market. Nearly 80% of all digital advertising revenue flows to them. The business models of media companies have come under severe pressure as a result. SDM concludes that local players can only offer some counterweight through significant investment, scaling up, and with their own competitive advertising environment. Furthermore, there is a real danger that RTL Nederland will fall into the hands of a foreign streaming service that takes over the profitable Videoland but lets RTL Nieuws die a quiet death. In that case, there would indeed be less market concentration in the Netherlands, but also less pluralistic, accessible, reliable news. Therefore, SDM is in favor of the acquisition, albeit with the absolute condition that it is accompanied by strong safeguards for journalistic independence. In other words: everything for independent journalism, pluralistic debate, and freedom of expression. Just as the founders envisioned in 1944: everything for a resilient democracy.

Simultaneously with the acquisition of RTL Nederland by DPG Media, the rights of SDM’s priority share in DPG Media are extended to NU.nl, which came into the possession of DPG Media in 2020 with the acquisition of Sanoma.

After ten years of grant-making, SDM is charting a new course. The foundation will become an independent advocate for a free, pluralistic media landscape, driven by the conviction that there is a need for an independent player that firmly champions the interests of well-informed citizens.

SDM is uniquely positioned to fulfill that role. Rooted in the history of the resistance newspaper and equipped with the independence and financial resources that enable it to act decisively. With a broad network in the media, journalism, government, and research institutions.