AMSTERDAM, 13/01/06 - The makers of Internet page Startlog.nl are launching a print newspaper next month filled with a selection of reports from Dutch weblogs. The tabloid will come out once a week and is in the first instance free, the initiators announced yesterday.

Startlog.nl was launched about a year ago as a starting page with links to hundreds of weblogs, arranged in categories ranging from personal to politics. Founders R. van der Lende and J. Kreek will select the digital contributions themselves. All weblogs now on Startlog have been approached and with one sole exception responded positively, according to Van der Lende.

In the future, the intention is that the citizen journalists (bloggers) will receive a fee if their articles appear in the paper. The weekly (in colour, 24 pages) will have a print-run of 30,000. The initiators are in talks with advertisers, who may also distribute the paper among their clients. Startlog is also hoping for a place in kiosks.

Regional daily Twentsche Courant/Tubantia yesterday announced a similar initiative. It is launching a digital newspaper Monday for residents of Haaksbergen municipality. Local news will be placed on the www.haaksbergen.tctubantia.nl internet site, and this will be produced by the residents themselves, local associations and neighbourhoods. "We only have a facilitating role," said an editor.