Amnesty International and Oxfam Novib have declined a donation from the Lowlands festival organisers, saying that press freedom is more important, trade paper Adformatie said on Friday.

Lowlands has introduced a €10 charge for journalists attending the festival this year and had said it would donate the cash to charity.

A number of media organisations, including ANP and NOS, have refused to pay and are not covering the Netherlands’ biggest festival as a result. The AD newspaper has also decided not to attend.

A spokesman for Oxfam told Adformatie that the move “does not dovetail with our ideas about equality and press freedom”. Amnesty said that “making journalists who want to do their job pay” is not appropriate in a democracy.

Festival organiser Mojo has declined to comment. “We will talk to Amnesty and Oxfam after the festival,” a spokesman said.

Tickets for the sold-out three-day Lowlands festival, which takes place in Biddinghuizen every August, cost €300 this year. Among the line up are Billie Eilish, the Bombay Bicycle Club, Florence and the Machine and De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig.