THE HAGUE, 14/05/09 - Media Minister Ronald Plasterk is making 60 young journalists government employees. They will work however for commercial daily newspapers.

The Labour (PvdA) minister has reserved more than 4 million euros for the project, in which 60 young journalists will receive a salary from the government for two years. During this period, they can start writing for the approximately 30 national and regional daily newspapers that are published in the Netherlands. This means each newspaper can use two 'government journalists'.

The first journalists can start work after the summer break, Plasterk said during a working visit in Amsterdam. He explained the decision by observing that young journalists are often the first to lose their jobs when newspapers need to make cutbacks, which is happening now due to decreases in circulation and advertisements.

More measures to help the press will probably follow later this year. Plasterk has another 8 million euros available for this. A committee set up by Plasterk is still studying various possibilities.