EFJ condemns fines against Dutch newspapers over weight-loss drug coverage
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns the fines imposed by the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) on four national newspapers, NRC, de Volkskrant, AD and De Telegraaf, over their reporting on weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic.
DPG Media, publisher of de Volkskrant and AD, was fined €51,000, while Mediahuis, publisher of NRC and De Telegraaf, was fined €132,000. The IGJ ruled that the coverage amounted to unlawful advertising of prescription medicines. The incident has been documentedon the Mapping media freedom platform
EFJ affiliate, The Dutch journalists’ union (NVJ) said the fines “can have a chilling effect on the work of journalists and threaten to create a form of self-censorship” around reporting on medicines. NVJ is consulting with the editors-in-chief affected by the fines and the Press Freedom Fund, and has requested a meeting with the IGJ.
GLP-1 medicines such as Ozempic are approved in the Netherlands only for diabetes treatment but are widely used off-label for weight loss, writes NOS. The fined articles reported on a study published in Nature Medicine highlighting the drugs’ benefits beyond diabetes treatment. The inspectorate ruled the coverage too positive under the Medicines Act’s ban on public advertising for prescription drugs – even though the articles also discussed the drugs’ side effects.
In an interview with NOS, called the measure “censorship”: “You prefer to save these kinds of strong words for truly serious matters, but this is certainly an attack on freedom of the press.”
EFJ Belgian affiliate VVJ has also condemned the fines, arguing the inspectorate has confused its role as health regulator with that of an editorial arbiter, and warning that punishing responsible, fact-checking newsrooms risks driving self-censorship while disinformation elsewhere goes unchecked. As VVJ Secretary General Charlotte Michils put it: “A free, critical press that informs citizens about health and medication is not a threat to public health.”
The EFJ stands firmly with its affiliates NVJ and VVJ and the Dutch newsrooms targeted by these fines. Reporting responsibly on the off-label use of medicines, is a matter of public interest, not advertising. The EFJ condemns this far-reaching interference with press freedom and calls for an open debate on how the Medicines Act is being applied to journalism.
