From the editor-in-chief | The corona virus seems to have passed and that is of course ‘good for the country’. But is it also ‘good for the newspaper’?

The corona virus seems to have passed and that is of course ‘good for the country’. We at the newspaper meanwhile greet fewer readers on our site. Is Ukraine ‘not our war’?

Reliable news media saw the interest in news increase enormously during the outbreak of the corona epidemic in March 2020. The reach figures, the number of visitors to DVHN.nl, also went through the roof for us. Not much later, the number of paying readers also increased.

This led to a nice growth of 2 percent in circulation in 2021. Completely in line with the statement ‘bad for the country, but good for the newspaper’.

The corona virus seems to have passed and that is of course ‘good for the country’. We at the newspaper meanwhile greet fewer readers on our site. We look at each other, wonder what we’re not doing right and reach out to colleagues in the country, at other regional titles. They recognize the image. “It’s not our war,” said one of them.

The news is, of course, dominated by the terrible events in Ukraine. I notice that it is sometimes difficult for me to keep up with the news. That I watch the news with tears in my eyes. This news makes a big impression.

That it is ‘not our war’ is not entirely true. In fact, it is more and more our war. Prices are rising, supermarkets are announcing rations and we are preparing to receive thousands of refugees.

It is of course also our war because our democratic norms and values ​​are at stake. For that reason, it is understandable that – especially – men wonder whether they will travel to Ukraine to fight against the Russians.

Two reporters from this newspaper made contact with Frank last week, who we also mention here without a last name. He said he wanted to travel to Ukraine to take up arms. He didn’t have much experience abroad, he said honestly. Only to refuel he had once crossed the border.

Other newspapers had already published interviews with men like Frank, men who unfolded their plans to go East. We made a different decision. We chose not to post the interview until Frank had actually arrived in the war zone.

Today this leads to what we call a circular story. Frank is already on his way back. The reality there hit him raw. This makes his story an illustration of warnings that veterans and also the Military Intelligence and Security Service issue. Don’t think too lightly about joining the war. It is not a computer game, but simply life-threatening.

The need to support the Ukrainians is heartwarming. We can do this better by generously supporting refugees. And don’t immediately start complaining if a refueling turns out to be more expensive than the time before.