Nieuwe journalistieke speler SPIL neemt het op tegen nieuwsarmoede onder jongeren
Nederland heeft eindelijk weer nieuws dat gemaakt wordt door jongeren: SPIL is vandaag officieel van start. De nieuwe journalistieke speler wil nieuwsarmoede onder jongeren tegengaan door onafhankelijke en inhoudelijke journalistiek aantrekkelijk te maken. Dat is hard nodig, want zes van de tien (58%) vijftien- tot vijfentwintigjarigen willen dat er meer betrouwbaar nieuws voor jongeren komt en meer dan de helft (51%) zou beter geïnformeerd willen zijn over actualiteiten. SPIL is te vinden op TikTok, Instagram en YouTube, en heeft een eigen podcast en nieuwsplatform. SPIL is onderdeel van Mediahuis groep.
Underrepresented
SPIL conducted a large-scale survey among Dutch young people. Only a third (36%) feel represented by the media, and only four in ten (42%) believe that news media are transparent about how they choose their topics. Furthermore, less than half (45%) believe that issues affecting young people receive sufficient attention.
Too few perspectives
Young people increasingly get their news from social media.
The majority trust current affairs on YouTube (62%) or Instagram (57%), even though the independence of the source often leaves something to be desired or is uncontrollable, and algorithms dictate the direction. Half of young people (50%) therefore feel that there is too little diversity of opinion on news topics. This is an important reason for SPIL to present the news from different perspectives.
Youngest editorial team in the Netherlands
SPIL covers topics that directly affect young people as well as broader background issues, but always from the perspective of its young editorial team. The core team consists of four people in their twenties, who are not only journalists but also presenters and reporters. They work together with an experienced editor-in-chief. Every day, they create multiple news items on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, providing context for domestic and international news. In recent months, it has deliberately flown under the radar, testing formats and investigating how algorithms on social media boost or hide content.
Journalistic creators
In addition to its permanent editorial team, SPIL will collaborate with young journalistic creators from all over the Netherlands. They are mostly ‘correspondents’ with specific expertise, for example in the fields of finance, legal affairs, or health. They also provide additional perspectives on the news.
Young people from all over the Netherlands have a say in the news
Now that SPIL has officially launched, the news medium is also introducing a community called ‘SPIL*ERS’, which young people from all over the Netherlands can join for free to have a say in the news topics and to see how SPIL makes its journalistic choices. It is precisely this transparency that young people are currently lacking. Almost half of young people (47%) find it difficult to determine which news media they can trust, and six out of ten (61%) are concerned about fake news. The SPIL editorial team therefore works on the basis of a public editorial charter, actively consults with the community on social media, and is always transparent about its news gathering in its articles.
Absolutely necessary
SPIL, part of the Mediahuis group, operates independently of the other news titles within the group. This allows the ‘news startup’ to make its own business and editorial choices, while ensuring its long-term survival. SPIL is developing new revenue models with the goal of becoming completely self-sufficient by 2027.
SPIL publisher Christopher Kenis: "We see that young people receive a lot of information, but almost 60% of them still feel that they are not sufficiently informed about the news. They need news that connects with their experiences and more diverse opinions on news topics. This requires a completely different approach and culture. We have spent a year working on SPIL to respond to this, because we see it as our job to do something about it. We are committed to the best-informed generation and a connected society."
The journalists
In addition to the editor-in-chief, the SPIL editorial team consists of four young journalists:
- Annemoon van Maastricht (Tilburg, 1999): “You have a hundred questions, but no one explains it properly. I want to do things differently. Not explaining things as they should be, but as you want to hear them. Honest, sharp, curious, and sometimes just a little weird.”
- Elisabeth van der Ploeg (Arnhem, 2002): “I tell stories about people who are not heard. Because I know what it feels like to be invisible.”
- Feline Neyndorff (Bloemendaal, 1999): “What I love most is creating content about people. How they deal with love, money, friendship, insecurity, their bodies, their time, their choices.”
- Jeroen Kroeze (Groningen, 2000): “I want to make politics understandable. What's going on behind the scenes, how does it work, and what does that ultimately mean for you?”
SPIL is officially live as of today on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.
The article New journalism player SPIL tackles news poverty among young people first appeared on Mediahuis.
