Press outraged by media allowance during Lowlands, AD does not accept ‘charity fee’ either | show

On Friday it was announced that journalists and photographers will now have to pay if they want to report on the Lowlands festival. Concert organizer MOJO asks media that accredit themselves to pay 10 euros per person in exchange for access to the festival site. According to MOJO, the money will go to charities with which the festival collaborates. Anyone who does not pay will not be allowed on the site and will therefore not be able to report on Lowlands 2023.

As a major newspaper, AD joins the positions of the NVJ journalists’ union, the ANP news agency, NOS and NRC. AD editor-in-chief Rennie Rijpma finds it remarkable that Lowlands ‘obstructs free news gathering in this way’. “It is precisely those charities that have an interest in media attention.” She compares the festival to football matches or other major events. For example, the Olympic Games. The written press is accessible there for free.”

Rijpma calls the plans ‘an undesirable development’ and says it will not send any journalists to the event if the organization actually implements the ‘charity fee’. “It is a remarkable decision by Lowlands. That a festival that has become very big in recent years, also thanks to the media, puts us at a distance. As a journalist you are there to report, actually for an even larger audience than just at the festival.”

Journalists’ union NVJ speaks of a ‘very wrong signal’. “A journalist must be able to do his or her job without any consideration,” said general secretary Thomas Bruning. ANP does not intend to pay, but hopes that Lowlands will withdraw the conditions. The same applies to NOS. The editors-in-chief say they will not report if Lowlands sticks to the plans. “The NOS does not pay for access to sources, so not even to be able to report on an event like Lowlands,” says editor-in-chief NOS News Giselle van Cann. “Free newsgathering also means that there is no compensation in any way.”

The editors-in-chief of NRC previously stated that they are of the opinion “that journalists should be able to do their work without having to pay for it”. However, NRC is not talking about a possible boycott. The editors-in-chief will reconsider this, should the ‘charity fee’ be definitively implemented.

In a statement on the website of Lowlands, the organization said on Friday afternoon that it is ‘by no means our intention to hinder press freedom or free news gathering’. “Of course, every journalist/title/press agency makes its own assessment whether paying the charity charge of 10 euros is a reason not to report on Lowlands.”

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