The government has ordered an investigation into the takeover of Dutch newspapers by outsiders, reports Monday’s Volkskrant.

Culture minister Ronald Plasterk wants to find out if it is possible to ‘protect them against possible dangers of being owned by a foreign firm’, the paper says.
The demands for high return on investments which the new owners are placing on newspapers is worrying, Plasterk says in a letter to MPs.
His decision follows the ‘turbulent departure’ of Apax from the PCM concern (publisher of papers such as the NRC and the Volkskrant) and the problems caused at Wegener (mainly regional newspaper) following its takeover by Mecom, the paper says.
The minister has also increased state subsidies to a special fund to stimulate the development of diversity in the Dutch media and says that free newspapers will also be able to apply to the fund.