The pieces were placed at the more conservative side of the Dutch media landscape. That’s how it was General Trade Journala predecessor of NRC, willing to post such pieces of the BVD. Also Hague Post in Rotterdam newspaper printed the ready pieces.
Furthermore, the secret service was on top of the press during the Cold War. The BVD insisted NRC including journalists Free Netherlands, The Telegraph in the Green Amsterdammer closely monitor. Most attention was paid to the communist daily The truth. Journalists of this were followed and tapped. The information gathered was shared by foreign intelligence services such as the CIA.
With this, the secret service tried to find out as much as possible about matters that could pose a possible threat to the Dutch state.
“The files must be seen in the context of that period. This was a common way of working for Western services in the Cold War,” a spokesman for the AIVD said to NRC.
