Our
stake-
holders
now know
exactly
what to
expect
“
”
n the past RNW had a
number of roles with a
flagship Dutch service
aimed at informing Dutch
people abroad, expats and
holidaymakers about
developments at home. Ten
language services served the rest of
the world portraying a ‘realistic
image of the Netherlands’
and providing news and feature
productions to countries with an
information deficit.
BOLDDECISIONS
We did our best. But this was an
abstract and all‐encompassing
mission and bold decisions had to
be made. The flagship Dutch
service, seen by many as redundant
in the internet age, was cut and
others, including the Indonesian
service, were axed too.
A new plan was negotiated with
the Foreign Ministry, RNW’s new
financiers after a move from the
Ministry of Culture, and since
January the new stripped‐down
organisation has been striding
ahead.
The key word is focus. Focus on
a few target areas and focus on one
target group. These choices are
linked to a clear policy focus –
promoting free speech around the
world in areas where free speech is
limited. This one‐pointed
conviction is the key to success for
the new company: Radio
Netherlands Worldwide 3.0.
There are now four regional
editorial teams (LatAm, Sub‐
Saharan Africa, MENA and China),
and they are busy with the free
speech theme, which is broken
down into the sub‐themes of
democracy and good governance,
human rights and sexual rights.
A multimedia approach, with
internet at its core, is the key and
the tone of voice is being honed to
best meet the needs of the 15‐30
year old target audience. Social
media is a vital component of the
mix along with an emphasis on co‐
creation with the audience and
with leading media partners in the
target regions.
FLEXIBLEAPPROACH
This is a major departure from the
big‐broadcaster approach serving
the world with programmes and
schedules dreamt up in Hilversum.
This new flexible and inclusive
approach is a challenge for
colleagues used to working for
audiences rather than with them.
Even so, the first successes have
been booked, and new formats are
already up and running, check
,
WhatsUpAfrica and
/
hablemos‐de‐amor.
Leaving the steady seas of
traditional broadcasting for the
more turbulent waters of co‐
creation and user‐generated
content brings challenges for our
colleagues. To ensure they keep
pace with developments, we are
investing in training and
assessment, and we aim to
stimulate and give constant
feedback to colleagues. As new
management we are trying to build
an open culture in which taking
risks is good and in which the
ability to give and accept positive
criticism is highly valued.
Above all we have set concrete
goals, and each editorial team has
targets it has to meet. The
production process itself is not
enough. The teams are required to
prove that they are engaging with
their target audience. Hard targets
about the number of social media
likes, shares and comments are in
place, as are hard targets for the
number of web visitors and the
value they place on the content
being produced. The idea is that a
constant feedback loop is in place,
with the end users being the final
arbiter of the material being
produced. This is the way the new
RNW is giving form to its mission
of promoting free speech –
providing access to our platforms
for users so they can exchange
ideas on even the toughest and
most taboo of subjects.
WEHAVE FOURYEARS
The Foreign Ministry has given us
four years to prove ourselves. By
choosing focus and innovation we
have hit the ground running and
are gathering pace.
In an age of major public
spending cuts, Dutch tax payers
demand, rightly, value for money
and the days when publicly‐funded
organizations could rely on past
achievements to underpin future
existence, also rightly, are in the
past.
For many RNW colleagues the
budget cuts were a disaster and
much has been lost – inevitable
with a reduction of more than two‐
thirds ‐ but the upside is that RNW
knows what it stands for and that
our stakeholders now know exactly
what to expect and what not to.
We are few but we are focused.
And now that the cuts are behind
us we are having fun too. Isn’t that
an excellent starting point for an
ambitious international
broadcaster?
■
Starting in January this year,
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
(RNW) embarked on a new course
after 65 years of trusty service -
2012 was a year of goodbyes and
final broadcasts as services
closed. At the same time, the
foundations were being laid for
the new organization – which with
a budget of 14m Euros a
year and 80 professionals on the
books is still a significant
presence. Director Robert Zaal
heads the new RNW – here he
writes about changing the
company from a broad-based
international broadcaster to a lean
and mean and focused
organisation which was essential
in the wake of 70% budget cuts
and an about-face in policy
I
ONA
NEW
COURSE
▼
Robert Zaal
(left) andWilliam
Valkenburg,
Editor-in-Chief
