Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten

Description

Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten, known as VVOJ, is a professional association for investigative journalists in the Netherlands and Flanders.

It was founded in 2002 and its members include journalists, teachers and students of journalism. The association promotes independent investigative journalism through an annual conference, regional meetings and awareness campaigns. Each year it presents De Loep, a prize for the best investigative journalism produced in the Netherlands and Belgium. Winners are announced each year at the Feest van de Onderzoeksjournalistiek, a celebration of investigative journalism held in Amsterdam.

VVOJ also supports members with practical tools, including guidance and a generator for filing requests under the Dutch Wet Open Overheid, the freedom of information law. It surveys its members on the pressures they face at work; a recent poll found nearly half had dealt with a legal threat or procedure linked to their reporting in the past two years. Regional meetings bring members together to discuss issues such as EU policy and government subsidies affecting journalism.