Het Volk (newspaper)

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Het Volk
Type Daily
Format Tabloid

Owner Corelio
Editor Frank Buyse
Founded 1891
Language Dutch
Ceased publication 10 May 2008
Headquarters Gossetlaan 30
Groot-Bijgaarden B-1702
Sister newspapers Het Nieuwsblad, De Gentenaar

Website: www.hetvolk.be

Het Volk (English: The People) was a Belgian newspaper that mainly focused on "news with a human undertone".

Contents

[edit] Mission Statement

"You will find what you are looking for in Het Volk, the only newspaper where people really make the news. You will read everything on small and big events in your neighborhoods, your cities and far beyond. In Het Volk, you won't be forced to swallow pre-chewn articles on politics or economics, but real news with a human undertone."

[edit] Circulation

In 2006, Het Volk had an average weekday circulation of 77,000 issues, according to the Centrum voor Informatie over de Media. The last quarter of the twentieth century, the circulation was severely dropping. In 1980, the weekday circulation was over 220,000.

Het Volk had an average market share of 11,5% in Flanders.

[edit] History

In 1891, Het Volk was published for the very first time. Back then, it was the only paper controlled by the emerging Christian labour organizations in Ghent. It strongly opposed socialism. They adopted anti-socialist daily as their subtitle and slogan. The paper was mainly distributed in Ghent, Aalst and Brussels. In 1912, the offensive "anti-socialist" slogan was changed into the more moderate subtitle Christian labourer's daily.

In 1925, Het Volk was the first newspaper in Belgium to publish a small Sunday issue, the so-called "Het Zondagsblad" ("The Sunday Paper").

During the Second World War, Het Volk had a circulation of 35,000 issues per day. It gained international attention in 1944 when it was the first - and for a certain amount of time, the only - paper to report on the Von Rundstedt Offensive in the Ardennes.

After the war, Het Volk started organizing sports events. In 1945, the very first Omloop Het Volk cycling meeting was held.

In 1952, Het Volk purchased De Nieuwe Gids, a Brussels-based newspaper, and turned this into a "cover-paper" for Het Volk in Brussels. Today, De Nieuwe Gids has disappeared. Their other "cover-paper" De Gentenaar still exists.

In 1994, Het Volk was purchased by the Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij and merged into their brands. Since 2001, the differences on content and lay-out between Het Volk, Het Nieuwsblad and De Gentenaar were rather small and mainly restricted to the front page.

In 2000, Het Volk left their headquarters in Ghent and moved to Groot-Bijgaarden, near Brussels.

On May 10, 2008, Het Volk ceased publication.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Het Volk verdwijnt (Dutch). Vlaamse Vereniging van Journalisten (5 May 2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-19.

[edit] External links