{{short description|Dutch daily newspaper}} {{update|date=December 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = {{lang|nl|Het Parool}} | logo = Het Parool (2018-10-27).svg | image = 1945 03 03 Het Parool ; vrij onverveerd - Bliksemsnelle operaties in het Rijnland.jpg | caption = Page from the edition of 3 March 1945 | type = Daily newspaper | format = Tabloid | founded = {{Start date|1940|df=yes}} | owners = {{Flatlist| * {{lang|nl|De Persgroep}} * {{lang|nl|stichting Het Nieuwe Parool}} }} | publisher = DPG Media | editor = | chief_editor = Kamilla Leupen | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | staff_writers = 73 | language = Dutch | circulation = 64,000 subscription; 20,000 street sales | headquarters = Jacob Bontiusplaats 9, Amsterdam, Netherlands | sister_newspapers = ''Algemeen Dagblad'' | oclc = | ISSN = 1389-2975 | website = {{URL|parool.nl}} }}
'''''Het Parool''''' ({{IPA|nl|ɦɛt paːˈroːl}}) is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945).<ref name=stdem>{{cite web|url=http://stdem.org/nl/geschiedenis|title=Stichting Democratie & Media – Geschiedenis|work=stdem.org|access-date=19 January 2015|archive-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318043717/http://www.stdem.org/nl/geschiedenis/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto''.
== History == === Second World War === The paper was preceded by a stenciled newsletter which was started in May 1940 by Frans Goedhart.<ref name=stdem/> In late 1940, Wim van Norden joined the group of producers of the newsletter; Van Norden would later serve as director of the newspaper between 1945 and 1979.<ref name=parool>{{cite news|author=Hanneloes Pen |url=http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/38/MEDIA/article/detail/4042937/2015/05/29/Parool-oprichter-Wim-van-Norden-97-overleden.dhtml |title=Parool-oprichter Wim van Norden (97) overleden |language=nl |newspaper=Het Parool |date=29 May 2015 |access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> Jaap Nunes Vaz also became involved with the newspaper. In 1944, the paper, albeit illegal and vigorously persecuted, reached a circulation of approximately 100,000, and it was distributed by the Dutch resistance.<ref name=stdem/> Other important contributors were Simon Carmiggelt and Max Nord, who lived with Van Norden and their families on the Reguliersgracht, in the headquarters of the paper, which was never discovered by the German occupiers.<ref name=gelder>{{cite news|url=http://vorige.nrc.nl/necrologieen/2008/article2063862.ece|title=Max Nord (1916-2008)|last=Gelder|first=Henk van|work=NRC Handelsblad|language=nl|access-date=7 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708063338/http://vorige.nrc.nl/necrologieen/2008/article2063862.ece|archive-date=8 July 2015}}</ref>
Numerous staff were apprehended and killed by the Germans and their Dutch collaborators. Alphons Meeuwis who distributed the paper was arrested in 1941 and sent to various camps. Nunes Vaz was arrested by the Gestapo on 25 October 1942 and sent to Sobibor concentration camp.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joodsmonument.nl/person/517596/nl|title=Digitaal Monument Joodse Gemeenschap in Nederland|language=nl|access-date=19 December 2009|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305192045/http://www.joodsmonument.nl/person/517596/nl|url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Postwar === thumb|Printing press of ''Het Parool''
After the war, ''Het Parool'' quickly became one of the largest newspapers in the Netherlands, partly because much of the population appreciated it for being the most prolific resistance paper and partly because newspapers that had collaborated with the German occupier were banned from publication.<ref>Madelon de Keizer: Het Parool 1940-1945. Verzetsblad in oorlogstijd. Proefschrift Universiteit Leiden, 1991. 2e herz. druk: Amsterdam, Cramwinckel, 1991. {{ISBN|90-71894-28-2}} en {{ISBN|90-71894-27-4}}</ref>
Apart from its main publication, ''Het Parool'' published magazines and local newspapers in the Netherlands. A string of locally-based newspapers appeared alongside ''Het Parool'', including ''Het Rotterdamsch Parool'' (1947–1971), ''Nieuw Utrechtsch Dagblad'', ''Haagsch Dagblad'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/p/ARCH02551full.php|title=Archives|work=IISH|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref> and ''Het Flevoparool'' (1982–1988). These local publications were all discontinued in the late sixties, early seventies, or (in the case of ''Het Flevoparool'') eighties.
Readership reached its peak in the mid-1960s with a subscription of over 400,000, making it the second-biggest newspaper in the Netherlands at that time. In the latter part of the 1960s, the newspaper, under conservative editor in chief Herman Sandberg, vehemently supported the Vietnam War, which alienated a substantial part of ''Het Parool'''s majority liberal and left-wing readership.<ref>[http://vorige.nrc.nl/article1878831.ece Herman Sandberg (1918–2008)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428063943/http://vorige.nrc.nl/article1878831.ece |date=28 April 2014 }} NRC. Retrieved 19 January 2015.</ref> This started a steady decline in subscriptions and circulation, which persisted for almost four decades.
=== Perscombinatie and PCM === In 1968 ''Het Parool'' started the publishing company Perscombinatie (''English'': Press Combination) with competitor ''De Volkskrant'', mainly to join investment in new printing presses. In 1973 ''Trouw'', also a former resistance paper, joined the corporation.<ref>[http://www.perscombinatie.nl/pages/history.php History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609014131/http://www.perscombinatie.nl/pages/history.php |date=9 June 2012 }} Perscombinatie.</ref>
At the start of Perscombinatie, ''Het Parool'' was the leading paper, but due to its declining circulation, ''De Volkskrant'' took over the prime role within the company starting in the early eighties, although the owner of the ''Het Parool'', Stichting Het Parool (''English'': The Parool Foundation) remained the majority shareholder, with 57% of the shares of Perscombinatie. After Stichting Het Parool merged with book publisher Meulenhoff, the two formed Perscombinatie and Meulenhoff & Company (PCM).
=== Termination and restart === In the 1990s, ''Het Parool'' started turning a loss, due to stiff competition and a lack of investment by PCM. The paper tried several different programs to counter this (including a move toward being a local Amsterdam newspaper in 1997), but these showed few results.<ref>Paul Koedijk en Gerard Mulder, Léés die Krant! Geschiedenis van het na-oorlogse Parool 1945-1970, Amsterdam, 1996.</ref> In 2002, PCM announced termination of the paper, citing substantial losses and declining readership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villamedia.nl/nieuws/bericht/smaling-gelooft-niet-in-doorstart-parool/5473/|title=Smaling gelooft niet in doorstart Parool|work=Villa Media|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref>
But instead, majority shareholder Stichting Het Parool opted for a management bailout of the newspaper, in effect terminating its ownership of PCM in return for the rights to publish ''Het Parool''. The bailout took effect on 1 January 2003. PCM was subsequently acquired by British-based investment group Apax Partners, which led to substantial debts and significant problems for the company.
=== De Persgroep and DPG Media === To strengthen this new ownership base, De Persgroep, the biggest newspaper publisher in Belgium, was asked to take a substantial minority share in the setup,<ref>[http://www.persgroep.nl/home/historie.html History] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120530113230/http://www.persgroep.nl/home/historie.html |date=30 May 2012 }} De Persgroep.</ref> alongside minority participation by both staff and readers. As a stand-alone newspaper, ''Het Parool'' remained national, yet with a focus on its Amsterdam home base.
In the new configuration, and after a collective layoff of 43 staff, ''Het Parool'' returned to profit within a year. On 30 March 2003 ''Het Parool'' became the first newspaper in the Netherlands to switch from broadsheet to tabloid format.
For Belgium-based De Persgroep, ''Het Parool'' served as a first foothold in the Netherlands, leading to the acquisition of a majority of the struggling PCM in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villamedia.nl/nieuws/bericht/persgroep-neemt-belang-in-pcm-uitgevers/35385/|title=Persgroep neemt belang in PCM Uitgevers|work=Villa Media|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref> In 2011, ''Het Parool'' was re-absorbed by PCM, which was renamed De Persgroep Nederland. Former Stichting Het Parool management began to run the company, closely re-establishing the Perscombinatie-situation of the 1970s.
In February 2012, ''Het Parool'' acquired Amsterdam-based commercial television station AT5<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villamedia.nl/nieuws/bericht/overname-at5-ook-financieel-rond/62059/|title=Overname AT5 ook financieel rond|work=Villa Media|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref> with public broadcaster AVRO and regional TV station RTV Noord-Holland to form a new multimedia corporation, which will also include online activities of both Parool and AT5, within De Persgroep.
== Organization and subscription == thumb|Office building of ''Het Parool''
{{As of|2015}} ''Het Parool'' had a staff of 73, who are based at the City desk, Arts and Media, Sports, Foreign, and Business desks. The paper consists of a news section and a daily, themed magazine called ''PS''. On weekends, a glossy, ''PS van de Week'', is published alongside the newspaper. The current editor in chief is Kamilla Leupen.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 December 2020|title=Kamilla Leupen nieuwe hoofdredacteur van Het Parool|url=https://www.parool.nl/gs-b1ba9de1|access-date=16 May 2021|website=Het Parool|language=nl-NL}}</ref>
Its daily circulation, through subscription, was 64,403 in 2013.<ref>[http://www.hoi-online.nl/311237/HOI-HARDE-CIJFERS-2011-Q4.pdf Hoi Harde Cijfers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101103132/http://www.hoi-online.nl/311237/HOI-HARDE-CIJFERS-2011-Q4.pdf |date=1 November 2013 }} Hoi Online.</ref>
== Layout and typeface == ''Het Parool'' was restyled twice by Mario Garcia: in 2004 (when it became a tabloid),<ref name=edesign>{{cite web|title=The Results of the Sixth European Newspaper Award|url=http://www.editorial-design.com/04/award04e/presse.html|publisher=Editorial Design|access-date=19 January 2015|format=Press release|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233647/http://www.editorial-design.com/04/award04e/presse.html|archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Mario R. Garcia|title=Rethink, not redesign|journal=Strategy Report|date=June 2004|volume=3|issue=3|url=http://ideas.typepad.com/WANreport.pdf|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> and in 2008.
==See also== * Jip and Janneke
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Official website|http://www.parool.nl}}
{{Dutch newspapers}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parool, Het}} Category:1940 establishments in the Netherlands Category:Daily newspapers published in the Netherlands Category:Dutch-language newspapers Category:Dutch resistance newspapers Category:Mass media in Amsterdam Category:Newspapers established in 1940