Research among Dutch 15- 25-year olds:
- The majority (58%) say they don’t have a news source they can trust
- A third (36%) feel underrepresented by the media
- More than half (51%) feel insufficiently informed about the news
- Four in five (79%) struggle to form their own opinions about the news
- Almost half (47%) find it difficult to determine which news sources are reliable
- Nearly two-thirds (61%) are concerned about fake news
The SPIL journalism platform is officially launched today, giving the Netherlands a reliable news source made by young people. SPIL aims to tackle news poverty among younger audiences by making independent, in-depth journalism accessible and engaging. Both the Dutch Media Authority and SPIL’s own research underline the importance of such an initiative. The authority calls the decline in interest in news among young people ‘particularly great’[1]. Research by SPIL also shows that six out of 10 (58%) people aged 15 to 25 say that they want more trustworthy news aimed at them[2], and more than half would like to be better informed about current events. SPIL can be found on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, and also offers its own podcast and news platform. SPIL is part of the Mediahuis group.
The journalists at SPIL are also the presenters and reporters.
Media authority: time to act
Today, the Dutch Media Authority released its annual Digital News Report. In it, the organisation sounds the alarm about young people’s news consumption: “Unfortunately, our monitoring shows that news consumption is not in a good way. Interest in, use of and trust in news is declining. The importance of social media, search engines and aggregation sites in news use is increasing. That’s true for all generations, but particularly for the young people in this study, the 18- to 34-year-olds, the digital generation. We see that young people’s media repertoire does not broaden as they get older. They do not automatically move on to traditional journalistic news offerings.”
Underrepresented
SPIL has also published the results of its own large-scale survey today. It shows the need for a news title for young people. Only a third (36%) feel represented by the media, and just four in 10 (42%) believe that news outlets are transparent about how they select their stories. Less than half (45%) feel that topics relevant to young people receive enough attention.
Too few perspectives
Young people increasingly get their news from social media. The majority trust current affairs content on YouTube (62%) or Instagram (57%), even though the independence of the source is often questionable or unverifiable, and algorithms determine what is seen. Half of young people (50%) feel that too few different opinions are presented in news coverage. This is a key reason for SPIL to offer the news from a variety of perspectives, particularly through these platforms.
The youngest newsroom in the Netherlands
SPIL features topics that directly affect young people as well as the broader background stories – always told from the perspective of its young newsroom. The core team consists of four journalists in their 20s, who are also presenters and reporters. They work alongside an experienced editor-in-chief. Every day, they produce multiple news items for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, providing context on domestic and international news. Over the past months, SPIL has operated deliberately under the radar, testing formats and studying how social media algorithms boost or suppress content.
Journalistic creators
In addition to its permanent editorial team, SPIL will collaborate with young journalistic creators from across the Netherlands. Many of them are correspondents with specific expertise in areas such as finance, legal affairs or health. They also help bring additional perspectives to the news.
A say in the news
Now that SPIL has officially launched, the platform is introducing a community of SPIL*ERS, where young people from across the Netherlands can become members for free, giving them a say in news topics and insight into how SPIL makes its editorial decisions. This transparency is exactly what young people feel is lacking. Nearly half (47%) find it difficult to determine which news outlets they can trust, and six in 10 (61%) are concerned about fake news. The SPIL newsroom operates under a publicly accessible editorial statute, actively engages with the community on social media, and is transparent in its content about its newsgathering process.
Urgently needed
SPIL, part of Mediahuis group, operates independently from other titles within the group. This ‘news startup’ can therefore make its own business and editorial decisions while being assured of long-term continuity. SPIL is developing new revenue models and aims to be fully self-sufficient by 2027.
Christopher Kenis, Publisher of SPIL: “We see that young people receive a huge amount of information, yet nearly 60% feel they are not sufficiently informed about the news. They want news that resonates with their world and more varied opinions on current topics. That requires a completely different approach and culture. We’ve spent a year developing SPIL to provide exactly that, because we see it as our responsibility to address this. We’re committed to creating the best-informed generation and a connected society.”
The journalists
In addition to the editor-in-chief, the SPIL newsroom consists of four young journalists:
- Annemoon van Maastricht (Tilburg, 1999): “You have a hundred questions, but no one explains it properly. I want to change that. Not explaining it the way it’s supposed to be, but the way you want to hear it. Honest, sharp, curious, and sometimes just a little weird.”
- Elisabeth van der Ploeg (Arnhem, 2002): “I tell stories about people who aren’t heard. Because I know how it feels not to be seen.”
- Feline Neyndorff (Bloemendaal, 1999): “What I love most is making content about people – how they deal with love, money, friendship, insecurity, their bodies, their time, their choices.”
- Jeroen Kroeze (Groningen, 2000): “I want to make politics understandable. What happens behind the scenes, how things work, and what it means for you.”
SPIL is officially live from 17 June on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
[1] https://www.cvdm.nl/nieuws/lancering-digital-news-report-op-dinsdag-17-juni/
[2] SPIL’s online survey used Motivaction’s StemPunt panel. The target group were Dutch people aged 15-25. The survey is representative of gender and age. 828 respondents fully completed the questionnaire. The fieldwork ran from 26 May to 2 June 2025. Motivaction is a member of the Data & Insights Network and is part of the Research Keurmerkgroep.
