Brains
BrainsThousands of bits and bytes are sweating behind the scenes daily to keep this site readable. Its big brain is the incomparable content management system WordPress. The theme is Literatum, tailor-made and complemented with a couple of very handy WP-plugins. The articles are usually written with MarsEdit on a 14″ MacBook Pro (being an early innovator, I’ve been a user of Apple’s fancy typewriters since 1984). I generally write in the heart of Amsterdam, but I’m very often in Brussels and Paris as well. Wherever I go, I prefer to travel by train. Since the very restrictive and counterproductive new French surveillance law (read here about it), I have moved all my websites to Iceland. My data is now being hosted at the aptly named 1984, in the country with the fewest barriers to Internet freedom (according to Freedom House).
Photos
Most of this website’s photos have been taken with a digital Nikon Z6 and sometimes with a fifteen-year-old Nikon F5. I edit photos using Adobe Lightroom CC. I sometimes use images with a Creative Commons licence found on Foter or Unsplash. Gabriela Hengeveld usually makes photos for the travel reports.
Looks
The font of the headings is Anivers, designed by Jos Buivenga and delivered to your screen by Typekit. The smart suits and shirts I wear on and off-screen are bespoke by New Tailor (Amsterdam & Utrecht). Now and then I’m wearing shirts by Charvet in Paris. I usually get my accessories like ties and cufflinks at Le Bon Marché, the only department store in Paris where tourists are not ruining your shopping experience.
This site attracts around 10.000 page views and 2,500 unique monthly visitors (average Q1, 2024). That’s not too bad, but it’s far from enough to finance a pair of handmade shoes. I, therefore, continue to blog for Berlutis.
Radio
For radio reports, podcasts and broadcasting, I have a studio equipped with the Zoom H5 smart card recorder and a Røde Podcaster Pro with Sennheiser mics. I use Luci Live or ReportIt software on iPad and iPhone for live reports in studio quality. The studio also has a vocal booth for voiceovers with two DBX286S compressors, a Focusrite Scarlett and cardioid or Shure SM7B microphones.
Television
Recordings in all standard formats (4K/Ultra HD, HD and SD), with several UHD cameras. Digital editing and colour correction in Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve on a 27″ iMac Retina 5K and a 27″ Cinema Display. Transmission via (EBU) satellite feed points in central Paris, in the rest of France, on-location via SNGs or FTP via fibre optic (upload speed 238 Mbps). Live video connections in HD broadcast quality (12Mb/s) over IP via wifi/4G/5G, or on location with LiveU, MimoLive or Dejero.
Journalistic Disclaimer
I’m completely independent, meaning I accept assignments, but I will never take orders. I will always protect the identity of my sources. I am only being paid for my reports by the media I work for. You will find not only news and background articles on this website but also some opinions. Some readers think that journalists should refrain from expressing their personal opinions. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be ‘objective’. However, every article and report starts with making a subjective choice. Therefore, there is no ‘objective journalism’, although that’s just my opinion. Having said that, I think careful and transparent journalism exists. That’s why I sometimes publish op-eds or give my views. Now you know what you’re in for. It’s up to you to do whatever you like with this disclaimer or my media productions. I welcome any comments or suggestions. Please use the contact form to provide your input.
In 2023, I accepted paid assignments from Arte*, BBC Radio*, BFMTV, BNR Nieuwsradio, CGTN Europe*, Euronews*, France 24*, Haagsch College, The i, Les Echos, NPO Radio en Televisie*, RTL Nederland and TF1. Between 2017 and 2023, I have taught at the IRIS Institute in Paris. I am a member of Europresse, NVJ and Transparency International. I am also a member of the jury of the European Book Prize and co-founder of the AJT (Association of Journalists for Access to Administrative Documents).
*The government partly finances these media in their respective countries. The show BNR Europa, which I co-host on BNR, receives a contribution from the European Parliament without any content in return. To my knowledge, the other organisations do not receive any government subsidies.
Copyright
All articles are © Stefan de Vries. The contents of this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
