Alexander Verdonck MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Dutch History, Political History, War & Conflict

Cohort/Start PhD: 2024-2025

Censorship and Freedom of Press in the Netherlands During the First World War

Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Supervisor(s): Prof. Ralf Futselaar, Dr Pieter van den Heede.
Duration of appointment: 01-06-2024/01-06-2028 (4 years).

During the First World War, the Netherlands was surrounded by belligerent states all exercising some form of press censorship. The Netherlands was keen to uphold freedom of the press, which resulted in numerous clashes between the Dutch government and the Dutch media, first and foremost, Dutch newspapers. This research proposal aims to investigate the freedom of the press in the Netherlands during World War One and its relevance in the contemporary context of misinformation and fake news. This study will be conducted as part of a PhD program at Erasmus University Rotterdam, building upon previous visits to the Dutch national archives that have yielded valuable insights into the subject matter such as the prosecution of the editor in chief of the Telegraaf, J.C.; Schröder, or the controversial cartoons drawn by Louis Raemaekers. Which irked the Dutch commander in chief so much he made several official complaints, hoping to steer the government more towards some form of censorship.

Research concerning censorship, as well as freedom of the press, is fickle by nature. Moreso in the case of the Netherlands during the First World War. Freedom of the press was a national policy, however, the newspapers operated mostly on a regional and/or local level.

Adding to this, there was no clear censorship policy coming from the Dutch government during this period (nor a clear policy regarding the freedom of the press), which means there is no clear authority regarding the freedom of the press. Who then, was in charge of keeping the press in line (as to maintain neutrality)? Or to put it in somewhat more concrete terms: How institutionalized was the reaction to threats to Dutch neutrality in the free press? And if there was a reaction, where did it come from?