Dutch government to slash Radio Netherlands Worldwide, focus on regions needing
"free
speech"
http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/07/07/dutch-government-to-slash-radio-netherlands-
worldwide-focus-on-regions-needing-free-speech/
Posted on July 7, 2011 by Paul Riismandel
Dutch Prime Ministher Mark Rutte announces changes to Radio Netherlands
As part of a government austerity program, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
announced
plans to make significant cuts in the budget of shortwave broadcaster Radio
Netherlands
Worldwide. RNW has been relied upon by both Dutch expatriates and other
listeners around
the world for a unique take on world events, in addition to news from the
Netherlands.
In a press conference Rutte praised the service and articulated its revised
mission:
"Radio Netherlands Worldwide will limit itself to one role, promoting free
speech. I think the
other tasks RNW performs are nice, valuable, but not enough to finance them
with public
money."
As part of this plan RNW will be moved into the government´s Foreign Ministry.
The cuts at RNW come at the same time as other international broadcasters are
scaling
back as well. Germany´s Deutsche Welle is ending shortwave and mediumwave (AM)
broadcasts while Radio Australia is also phasing out shortwave in favor of
internet
broadcasting. In general governments have cited the ability to reach listeners
more easily
over the internet as a significant reason for ending terrestrial international
broadcasts. The
Dutch government´s revised focus for RNW reflects this trend to retain
terrestrial broadcasts
only to regions that still rely on shortwave for international news and
information.
However, that doesn´t mean that RNW and other prominent supporters will go down
without
a fight. The network has assembled testimony from a variety of prominent
international
voices in support the station and retaining its full broadcast service. Dutch
national Willem
Sools discusses the important role RNW played for him while being held hostage
in Somalia
in 2008:
"The whole time, we were able to listen regularly to a little radio, to
stations including Radio
Netherlands Worldwide. I wanted to thank you, even though you weren´t aware of
it. I was
able to hear everything about the Netherlands: interviews, documentaries, the
news and, at
Yuletide, typically Dutch stories about Saint Nicholas and Christmas -
fantastic. Your
broadcasts strengthened me a lot. Thanks."
As the BBC and Deutsche Welle have phased our their broadcast service to North
America,
Radio Netherlands Worldwide has remained one of the stations that I could
reliably tune in
for high-quality world news in English on the shortwave band. Admittedly,
shortwave radio is
not a primary information service for me at this point in time, nor is it for
most people in North
America. However, I´ve appreciated the service in times when I was traveling
and there
wasn´t another good news source on the AM or FM dial, or when there´s been a
power
outage and I´m tired of hearing "traffic and weather on the 8s."
I suppose it is a good thing that the Dutch government seems to want to
maintain broadcasts
to the developing world and regions where it wishes to promote free speech.
However, it is
hard not to lament that the era of ubiquitous global shortwave broadcasting is
coming to an
end. Standard rig : ICOM R75 / 2x16 V / m@h40 heads Sennheiser
Please read and distribute this 15 year research article
http://tinyurl.com/5vzg7e
Please read my article on SINPO at http://tinyurl.com/yt7qjd
________________________
http://zlgr.multiply.com (radio monitoring site plus audio clips ) MAIN SITE
http://www.delicious.com/gr_greek1/@zach (all mypages !!)
........
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece
greekdx @ otenet dot gr ---
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop
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