DPG Media publishes second Journalism Annual Report

Today, DPG Media is publishing its second Journalism Annual Report. In this report covering 2025, the 17 main editorial offices of the Belgian and Dutch news brands look back on their most important journalistic productions, innovations, and dilemmas. This makes DPG Media one of a small group of publishers worldwide that structurally account for their work in this way.

The annual report was presented yesterday by Director of Journalism Philippe Remarque during an industry event in Amsterdam. In addition to transparency regarding subscriber numbers, reach figures, and editorial structures, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) is a central focus this year.

How to deal with the rise of AI
During the launch, Remarque pointed out one of the major challenges facing journalism today: how should it deal with the rapid rise of AI? "We talk a lot about human-machine-human, and that is certainly a good principle when dealing with this powerful new technology. But what about human-human-human? Isn't that the great strength of our journalism?"

According to Remarque, this presents a significant opportunity for journalism. "But then we have to change a few things. We need to show more of ourselves, make more contact with our audience, and be more accessible and visible. That's not to say we should be sharing stories about our cat, our baby, or our last vacation. It's about taking the audience along in our journalistic curiosity, motivation, and methodology."

Safeguarding editorial independence
In journalistic terms, 2025 was an important year because DPG Media, following the acquisition of RTL Nederland, further strengthened the safeguarding of its editorial independence. This was achieved partly through the establishment of two new foundations for NU.nl and RTL Nieuws, and the introduction of additional safeguards at existing foundations, including those of de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Trouw, and the Stichting Democratie en Media (Foundation for Democracy and Media). Editorial independence has also been further reinforced in updated editorial statutes. The annual report provides more detail on these steps.

Foundation of democracy
For DPG Media, the annual report is more than a retrospective; it is a conscious choice for openness. Philippe Remarque: "All in all, it is not just the editorial teams that offer transparency in the annual report. As a publisher and guardian of these wonderful titles, we also want to be accountable to society – precisely because trust in journalism is so important. Only in this way can we have informed citizens, who are the foundation of our democracy."

The DPG Media Journalism Annual Report 2025 can be found here.

The DPG Media 2025 Corporate Annual Report will be published on March 31, 2026.