Het Nieuwsblad

This article is about a Flemish newspaper. For the cycling race that it sponsors, see Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Het Nieuwsblad (Dutch pronunciation: [ət ˈniuzblɑt]; English: The Newspaper) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports.

Het Nieuwsblad

Het Nieuwsblad with a pint.
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	Corelio
Editor	Guy Fransen
Founded	3 November 1929; 95 years ago (3 November 1929)
Language	Dutch
Headquarters	Gossetlaan 30 Groot-Bijgaarden B-1702
Website	www.nieuwsblad.be

History and profile

Front page Flemish newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad" September 4, 1939 with headline "The decision has been made, England and France declare to be at war with Germany".

Front page Flemish newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad" May 13, 1940 with headline "The German attacks continue on the Albert Canal and on the Maas".

In 1929, Het Nieuwsblad was published by De Standaard for the first time. In 1939, the sports paper Sportwereld (established in 1912) was purchased by De Standaard and turned into a daily supplement to their two main newspapers, "De Standaard" and "Het Nieuwsblad".

In 1957, three other newspapers were purchased by De Standaard and initially kept in circulation. In 1966, the further publication of two of them, Het Nieuws van de Dag and Het Vrije Volksblad, was stopped. The same happened with the third paper, Het Handelsblad, in 1979.

In 1959, two more newspapers were purchased, of which De Landwacht disappeared in 1978. The other paper, De Gentenaar, was turned into a "cover-paper" for Het Nieuwsblad around the city of Ghent. De Gentenaar still exists today and contains the same articles and columns as Het Nieuwsblad plus local news from the Ghent area.

In 1962, a special supplement for children was created, the Patskrant. In 1977, the name was changed into the Stripkrant. In 2000, the daily Stripkrant was replaced by the Jommekeskrant (on Wednesday) and by Yo (on Mondays, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday).

In 1976, De Standaard went bankrupt before their newspapers were purchased by the Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij.

In 1996, Het Nieuwsblad started a new "cover-paper" in Antwerp, named Het Stad. This paper was never successful and disappeared after just two years.

In 2003, Het Nieuwsblad and Het Volk jointly started the publication of the lifestyle-magazine Catchy. In the same year Het Nieuwsblad began publishing on Sundays after nearly 75 years of publication and the newspaper also created the cycling award Flandrien of the Year.

On 10 May 2008, Het Nieuwsblad and Het Volk merged.^[1]

As of February 2010,^[update] the Het Nieuwsblad website, nieuwsblad.be had an average daily unique visitor count of 332,000, making it the most popular newspaper website in Flanders.^[2] The website, just like the paper edition, is characterised as populist, rather right wing, with a focus on local news, celebrity news and sensational articles.^{[citation needed]}

Circulation

The circulation of Het Nieuwsblad in 2002 was 241,120 copies.^[3] The following year, it had a circulation of 211,000 copies, making it the second best selling Belgian newspaper.^[4] In 2006, the paper had an average weekday circulation of 210,000 issues, according to the Centrum voor Informatie over de Media.

In 2009 Het Nieuwsblad had an average market share of 27.04% in Flanders^[5] and had a circulation of 263,063 copies.^[6] In 2011 the circulation was up to 300,000 copies.^[2] The latest available certified figure, from 2015, lists print output at 264 891 copies per day.^[7]