Over this past election season, I’ve formed a habit of looking at German and Dutch newspapers online, not only as a way of getting the outside view of what goes on in the United States, but also to recover some of my foreign language ability. I’m fairly fluent in reading German, and that, with the two-units of self study I took in Dutch, a long time ago, I can spell my way through a Dutch newspaper article and get a pretty good sense of it.
My question is about the Algemeen Dagblad. Is it generally considered a respectable paper like the New York Times, or is it – shall we say-- a bit sensationalistic? I ask because when I looked at it today, the lead story in the foreign section was a piece on how American gun enthusiasts are rushing to buy firearms before an imagined crackdown by the new government in January. Also from America is this article about a 90-year old Chicago woman who lived for years among the corpses of her siblings. It did say this came from the Chicago Tribune, so presumably the story is big in Chicago, but I hadn’t heard of it in L.A.
With regard to the other story, there certainly is some disappointment and anger among conservatives in this country, but not to the extent which is suggested by this article. It’s vaguely reminscent of Russian nobles scrambling to get their valuables to Switzerland before the Bolsheviks got them. As we see it here, the anger is mostly confined to its usual locales of talk radio and conservative oriented journals. I don’t see anybody panicking or rushing anywhere.
So how about it…is this a good newspaper to look at, or should I seek elsewhere?
Both stories, IMO, are not a little reminiscent of something you’d see on the front page of a tabloid in a supermarket checkout line.
People I knew when I lived in the Netherlands tended to read NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant, but I don’t get the impression that AD is majorly different from them.
I would say the AD is pretty middle-of-the-road; it’s not a sensationalist gossip rag like De Telegraaf, but it’s not quite at the level of NRC Handelsblad either. Basically aimed at your ordinary middle-class folk who like to keep up with what’s going on in the world but don’t consider themselves highfalutin intellectuals.
I don’t often read it myself, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the AD’s coverage of foreign affairs is a bit more slanted and black-and-white than their coverage of what’s going on inside the Netherlands. That’s not much of an excuse I realize, but maybe if you read only the international pages you don’t really see them from their best angle, so to speak.
No panic or rush, but in southern New Mexico and western Texas, gun dealers are reporting an increase in sales. It’s made several newspapers in my area.
To a European, it probably looks like a bigger deal than it does to us.
This is spot on. Also, AD is aimed especially at middle-sized and small *businesses *and small entrepreneurs. Their info on trade opportunities and practical economics is well respected, as well as their (formerly) extensive business ads. In all other respects, AD caters a bit on the lower side of middle class.