Glowsticks, artificial intelligence-generated portraits, and a coachload of Flügel marked Thursday night’s fourth edition of the Battle of the Redactiebands, where competing Dutch newsrooms descended on the Rotterdam pop venue Annabel.
Eurovision Ambitions and Logistical Strains
Organized by the daily newspaper AD after winning the previous edition, the journalism competition took on outsized proportions this year. Antti Liukku, frontman of the AD house band AD/AD, noted ahead of the event that the organizers wanted to push the rivalry to “Songfestivalachtige proporties”—Eurovision-like proportions.
The scale included a dedicated Instagram page, printed flyers, two imported presenters, and a full video crew documenting the proceedings. This growth has occasionally strained its logistics. Organizers turned down a late entry from the investigative platform Investico due to time constraints, while Follow The Money sat out the evening entirely. Eric Smit has shifted focus to other projects.
Glittering Dresses and Geographic Banter
Festivities kicked off at the Annabel entrance beneath walls adorned with portraits of presenters Karijn Goorts and Lotte van der Velde. The presenters opened the night in glittering dresses, rewriting the beat of Abba’s “Mamma Mia!” with lyrics nodding to DPG Media’s recent acquisition of RTL.
Vers Beton departing editor-in-chief Eeva Liukku offered a critical review of the geographic banter, arguing that the Amsterdam-based newsrooms in attendance failed to deliver enough Rotterdam-versus-Amsterdam jokes.
Enemy Territory and Heavy Smoke
Representing De Telegraaf in enemy territory, Koen Nederhof booked a hotel on the Blaak and listened to an Ajax podcast on his commute. “The only certainty tonight,” Nederhof said, is that an Amsterdam editorial team would take home the prize.
AD/AD opened the musical portion with Deep Purple’s “Hush,” backed by a stage monitor displaying a DPG laptop standby screen. Meanwhile, a coach carrying staff from de Volkskrant and Trouw arrived from Amsterdam, with participants later reporting heavy consumption of Flügel on the journey.
Teletubbies, Priests, and Pride
As the performances progressed, newsrooms blurred their boundaries outside the venue, where NRC’s Thomas de Veen and de Volkskrant‘s Gijs Beukers held extended discussions. On stage, musical selections ranged from the financial daily FD’s rendition of “Zwemmen in Bacardi Lemon” in heavy Amsterdam dialect to the Volksband appearing in Teletubbie-style costumes, accompanied by heavy smoke machine output and a livestream run by Chris Buur.
Provinces Claim the Trophy
When the competition concluded, the jury awarded the primary prize to the regional titles of Mediahuis, known musically as “Outside the Ring.”
Frontman Jacco van Oostveen celebrated the win by shouting that the newsroom was heading into the provinces, leaving the crowd to debate which provincial town would shoulder hosting duties next year.
