The first female editor-in-chief in the 75-year history of the newspaper: for Rennie Rijpma, the Algemeen Dagblad’s anniversary was also a personal milestone. And she thought it was high time. Even if it was only as a role model for young people and also because women sometimes make different choices.

She arrived at AD 10 years ago, at a time when the newspaper was a male bastion. Rijpma, who became editor-in-chief on 1 July 2021: “The only female managers at the time were the department head of AD Magazine and me. This improved later on, but following a reorganisation, senior management was suddenly virtually all male again. AD currently has three female department heads versus seven men. The ideal ratio would be 50/50. Two members of our three-person editorial board are women, though.”

And yes, that makes a difference. “We recently had a front page featuring only women. That attracts attention. And in a completely female editorial conference that we once held, we were struck by something else: men are keen to express their opinions, while women mainly ask questions.”

This requires a disclaimer, according to Rijpma. Not every woman is equally feminine, and not every man is equally masculine. “Maybe because I grew up with brothers, I can very easily play one of the guys. I only realised later that you should actually be aware of your feminine side.”

What’s more, she says, diversity goes a lot further than counting the number of men and women. “I regularly emphasise our need to be diverse in our choice of subjects and of who we put forward as interview candidates. In addition, as an editorial team, we’re still extremely white, and that causes blind spots. As a newspaper, we have to reflect society better.”

In this society, it isn’t appropriate as editor-in-chief to decide everything on your own. Rijpma: “I feel the ultimate responsibility very strongly, but I haven’t felt lonely, and I certainly don’t have the feeling that I have to do things on my own. I frequently consult my two deputy editors-in-chief, the department head, management and other ADR editors-in-chief.”

This also fits in with the creed of the native Frisian, who is known as an ‘energetic connector’. “The urge to connect is mainly part of a natural attitude of: how can we do it together?”

She developed this personality trait during her unusual academic career: among other things, she first studied social work and then went on to study law. “In social work, I mainly learned to be a good listener; in my law studies, I learned to think systematically. It’s often helpful to break big problems down into steps.”

The next steps for the AD were conceived in 2021 and will become more noticeable this year. Specifically in all online violence, it’s important to continue to search for the social component, according to Rijpma. “Our readers see the newspaper as a friend of the family. We must make sure that this feeling, this love of the newspaper reader for the strong AD brand, is communicated more fully to the online visitor, so that the digital visitor also feels increasing affection for the AD.”

Her second goal – not surprisingly – also relates to ‘cooperation’. “We’ve now been working for six and a half years with the regional titles within the major news organisation that is ADR Nieuwsmedia. There’s still a lot more potential in this collaboration.”

RENNIE RIJPMA (44)

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF AD SINCE 2021, HAVING WORKED THERE SINCE 2011. SHE WAS PREVIOUSLY JOURNALIST AND DEPARTMENT HEAD OF NEWS AGENCY ANP.

Her appointment was met with unanimous applause. For all those involved, it was obvious that Sylvia Cools, who became editor-in-chief of de Stentor on 1 October 2021, was the best choice to head the proud ADR regional title. After all, she was already deputy editor-in-chief and, based on her previous job (13 years with regional broadcaster Omroep Gelderland), she was firmly rooted in the journalism of the east of the Netherlands.

“I briefly hesitated about applying,” Cools reflects. “Am I up to it? And will I enjoy it? Those were questions I asked myself.” Now she knows the answer. “It’s fantastic fun and an honour to do this job in an area where our readers still really call themselves ‘members of the newspaper’. The involvement, the feeling of belonging to the region is huge.”

As editor-in-chief, she wants to expand that involvement further. “De Stentor is already very much a multimedia platform, but I think there’s still much to gain when it comes to engaging with our readers. We’ve restored the comment function under articles, which is already a good move. The next step is to be active in working with those comments. In the run-up to elections, for example, we travel around the region in an old VW Beetle and ask readers the question: what needs to happen; what problems do you come up against? Those personal stories from readers can provide us with the starting point for new articles.”

Cools is also keen for the de Stentor editorial team to take this broad view of the news. And that goes beyond the proportion of women in the editorial office. “My predecessor, Allard Besse, was very active on diversity; half of our department heads are women. Diversity is more than just the ratio of men to women. I also think it’s good if people from various sectors – not just people who’ve been trained as print journalists – work in an editorial team.”

She is herself an example of this. “When I had just transferred from broadcasting to the newspaper, I was asked the question: how many words can I write? I had no idea. I was very image-focused and thought in minutes and seconds. Fortunately, there are clever, experienced people working here at de Stentor who have already taught me a lot about how to make the newspaper.”

That team spirit, supporting one another and making the best use of one another’s qualities, is firmly embedded in the paper. “It’s possible that the average woman shows more empathy in leadership than the average man, but I also know many empathic men. I think it just depends on the type of person. Even in periods when we work a lot from home – and still succeed in producing good stories – I try to be very accessible. I’m open to people and to other opinions, and, above all, I don’t want to impose my ideas from above. I want to help people, but I don’t think that’s feminine. It is human, though.”

SYLVIA COOLS (44)

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF DE STENTOR SINCE 2021, HAVING WORKED THERE SINCE 2018. PREVIOUSLY, SHE WAS HEAD OF NEWS AT BROADCASTER OMROEP GELDERLAND.

She experienced something of a baptism of fire. In her first year as the person with final responsibility, Kamilla Leupen, editor-in-chief of Het Parool since 1 January 2021, guided her publication through the transition from afternoon to morning paper. Add to that the transition to digital first, the exhaustion of working from home and the murder of reporter Peter R. de Vries, which hit the editorial staff hard, and the verdict that it was ‘a difficult year’ is more than justified.

Het Parool, with a rich history as a newspaper of the resistance, was preparing itself in 2021 for a new future as a morning newspaper and a simultaneous change to digital first. “Of course, the transition took some getting used to,” says Leupen. “Now that we’re working completely digital first , there are multiple deadlines each day.”

What remained unchanged was that we continued to work every day with great dedication on the print version of the paper.

Leupen’s love for the paper goes back a long way. She joined the newspaper as a trainee in 1999, never dreaming at the time of becoming editor-in-chief. “I never gave it a thought. I didn’t think when I arrived here: one day I’ll be the boss. I mainly wanted to do my work as well as possible at all times.”

However, thanks to her career path (from city correspondent to department head and since 2015 deputy editor-in-chief), she grew to be the ideal candidate to succeed Ronald Ockhuysen. “I thought that the next editor-in-chief had to be a woman and also someone who – because of everything that needed to happen and due to the pandemic – already knew the editorial team well.”

She has of course seen changes in the culture of the editorial team since 1999. “The editorial team of Het Parool was always a kind of family, but at that time it was more hierarchical. Managers were mainly male and things were sometimes said to women, including me, that are really not acceptable now.”

Quite a lot has changed as regards the hierarchy and Leupen has her own management style. “I’m quite a good listener, I’m open to other opinions, and I want to do things together. That’s in tune with our times and it’s also in tune with my personality.”

Another thing that has changed: “Fortunately, you see ever more women at the top of organisations. It’s no coincidence that at DPG Media, three female editors-in-chief have been added in one year. It’s important as a role model: young women see that you really can get ahead in an organisation.”

The ratio of men to women on the editorial team, including in senior positions, is now balanced. However, there’s more to be done on diversity. Leupen is pleased with the way DPG Media prioritises diversity policy. “As a city newspaper, we need to reflect the city better. This is proving more successful than before in the newspaper itself, but quite a lot still needs to happen in the editorial team.”

And in the meantime, the editorial staff of Het Parool is mainly pursuing ambitions related to the capital city. Leupen: “I’m proud that in spite of the many changes, we publish good stories every day. We want to focus more emphatically on Amsterdam and become the indispensable online news brand for everything that has to do with Amsterdam.”

KAMILLA LEUPEN (49)

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF HET PAROOL SINCE 2021, HAVING WORKED THERE SINCE 1999.