Pioneer Literary JournalistsThe Intricate Relation Between Literary Journalism and Professional Newspaper Reporting in the Netherlands, 1890–1930

Abstract

This chapter outlines how the transformation of newspaper journalism in the Netherlands at the end of the nineteenth century was very much entwined with the emergence of narrative forms of journalism. Under the influence of a group of journalistic pioneers, narrative journalism became the dominant professional ideal within Dutch newspaper journalism. This professional practice and form were strongly inspired by literary naturalism. Focusing on the lower ranks in life and portraying their everyday experiences in an evocative manner, Dutch newspaper journalism was nonetheless fused to an event-centered, fact-oriented form of reporting that had emerged in the Anglo-American world. Although the dominance of this professional ideal did not mean that every journalistic piece embodied the key characteristics of this narrative form of journalism, it was seen as the highest form of journalism to which anyone could aspire, and brought high professional esteem to the journalists who were allowed and able to practice it.