News from Germany dominates the Dutch dailies with tales of contaminated cucumbers and the end of nuclear power. There’s more on Mladic and smartphones in the classroom. And De Telegraaf makes headlines in a rival paper.

Dutch hit by economic fallout of EHEC contamination
There are cucumbers galore on today’s front pages. All the Dutch dailies give major coverage to the deadly wave of EHEC infections in neighbouring Germany, which has been linked to cucumbers and other raw vegetables.

In typically belligerent mood, De Telegraaf declares “cucumber war on the Germans”. The paper is furious at accusations that Dutch growers might be involved in the scandal, announcing patriotically that “Dutch consumers are remaining loyal to their cucumber growers.”

Trouw is also in reassuring mode. One Dutch supplier insists “the chance of something going wrong in our operation is zero”. But with Germans refusing to eat cucumber and 70 percent of the Dutch harvest earmarked for export to Germany, things aren’t looking good.

“This year is going to be a disaster, even though there’s nothing wrong with our products,” one grower sighs. “We’re weighing how much we throw away. Maybe there will be some kind of emergency fund, but we’re not holding our breath.”

NRC.next’s irreverent cartoon couple Fokke & Sukke also get in on the act. “No! Not the cucumber!” they cry, sitting in front of the TV. Let’s just say it’s not a cookery programme they’re watching...

Dutch scepticism about German nuclear phaseout
Another leading story from across the border is Germany’s decision to phase out its nuclear power plants by 2022. “Political power play or green revolution?” asks de Volkskrant. The paper’s comment page describes the closure plans as a piece of “very pricey political symbolism” on the part of Angela Merkel’s government.

De Telegraaf notes simply that “Germany stands alone” in its decision, while “most of Europe remains in favour of nuclear energy”.

Trouw focuses on the contrast between attitudes in Germany and the Netherlands: “how very odd: Germany is calling a halt to nuclear energy while the Dutch are determined to get started”.

AD sees developments as a business opportunity for the Netherlands: “We’ll soon be supplying Dutch nuclear energy to the Germans,” it gloats.

Mladic: the emotions behind the arrest
The Dutch papers take a look at the feelings stirred up by the arrest of Ratko Mladic. De Telegraaf’s team in Srebrenica report on the bitterness many Bosnian Muslims feel about what they see as the “preferential treatment” being given to Mladic. “He’ll soon be enjoying a peaceful old age,” one man grumbles.

Trouw presents two versions of the arrest: the public prosecutor maintains it’s the result of “brilliant investigative work” while others dismiss it as “a political showpiece” and the inevitable result of the turning political tide in Serbia.

The Dutch press return to Srebrenica, the former Muslim enclave where Dutch UN soldiers failed to protect thousands of Muslim men and boys that were taken away to be massacred by Mladic’s forces in 1995.

NRC.next reports that Srebrenica has flourished thanks to tourists and Dutch financial aid while the rest of Bosnia remains stalled by the country’s internal divisions. But de Volkskrant notes that “generous support from The Hague” has done little to win hearts and minds. “The image of the Dutch in Srebrenica is still extremely bad” and the question remains “Why did they not protect us?”

Teaching in the age of the smartphone
Several papers look at the challenge facing teachers in a country where 98 percent of kids 14 and older have a mobile phone. Researcher Liesbeth Hop reveals that school policy on the issue is “in chaos”.

She tells Trouw of toe-curling abuses that go way beyond old-fashioned classroom mischief-making: “kids taking photos of teachers on the toilet, setting up Facebook pages to ruin a teacher’s reputation or threatening to publish embarrassing films online unless they get a better mark.”

Liesbeth informs AD that teachers are being naïve if they think they can just ignore the use of smartphones in the classroom. “Mobile internet is on the rise. Banning it makes no sense. You’re better off teaching kids to use it effectively.”

She recommends appointing a media coach within the school: “It doesn’t matter if they’re 20 or 60 as long as they have a feeling for the subject, know how things work and what the issues are.”

NRC.next blasts De Telegraaf
NRC.next gets stuck into the competition with a front-page feature on De Telegraaf complete with a two-page mock-up of its broadsheet format. Beneath the headline “Telegraaf on the warpath!” nrc.next reckons “De Telegraaf has gone back to being the old-fashioned campaigning paper it once was” and asks “Is there a strategy behind it all?”

The folks at nrc.next argue that De Telegraaf’s approach “has little to do with ethical journalism”, instead employing classic tactics such as suggestion, exaggeration and simply spreading falsehood in a mix “reminiscent of the local pub where everyone complains about politics”.

“We never embark on campaigns... all we do is tell the other side of the story,” insists De Telegraaf editor-in-chief Sjuul Paradijs. But one media commentator begs to differ. True, the paper is good at listening to its disgruntled readership but “by fuelling dissatisfaction, the paper is securing its own position as the valve they use to vent their frustrations”.