Editorial staff
Riki Janssen (editor in chief) 043-3885384
Wendy Degens 043-3885382
Cleo Freriks 043-3885386
Yuri Meesen 043-3885385
Maurice Timmermans 043-3885381
Editorial assistent
Marion Janssens 043-3885390
Student freelancers
Observant works with a team of student freelancers. If you're interested in writing for us, please send an e-mail, cv and example of your work to cleo.freriks@maastrichtuniversity.nl. At the moment there are no vacancies for student freelancers.
Copyright on letters/letters to the editor
Readers who submit letters or letters to the editor for publication, retain their copyright, but by submitting their writings give unlimited permission for publication of the material in all editions of Observant, both printed and electronic, as well as for storage in (electronic) databases and other files.
How do we work?
Topic choice Space in Observant’s paper version is limited. Therefore we use a number of criteria to select the topics for our articles. Is it current? Is it interesting enough for a large group of students and/or staff? Is there a connection with Maastricht University? All articles from the newspaper are also posted on our website. The site is our digital archive.
Both sides of the story Observant always tries to put forward both sides of the story, which means that we ensure that we look at a topic from all perspectives. Sometimes the other side is published a week later in a follow-up article, if parties involved initially refuse to respond or cannot be reached.
Preview of an interview When someone is individually interviewed for a longer story, an agreement can be made regarding inspection before publication. This is not matter of course. Corrections are only possible in case of factual errors. The tone and style of the article is the journalist’s prerogative. The editor-in-chief always has final responsibility for the article. Observant works with deadlines. This means that quick responses may be required. Journalists and interviewees make clear agreements about this.
Removal from the digital archives?
Just like other media, Observant also receives a lot of these types of requests. The digital version of our newspaper, however, serves as an archive. We want the entire archive to remain intact and searchable. In this respect too, we are no different to other media.
For more information on this topic, please refer to https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/05/10/corrigeren-in-het-archief-is-beter-dan-amputeren-a1480697
The Netherlands Press Council has also drawn up a declaration: https://www.denieuwereporter.nl/2010/10/online-krantenarchief-is-ook-journalistiek-drie-recente-uitspraken/
If you want to remain untraceable for Google’s search engine, you may submit a request by filling in the so-called forget-me-form. See: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/legal-removal-request?complaint_type=rtbf&hl=en&rd=1