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Starting in September 2010, the Netherlands Public Broadcasting service will include two new entities, PowNed and WNL, reports De Volkskrant. The Minister for Culture, Ronald Plasterk, has granted each of them the right to broadcast two hours of television and nine hours of radio per week, with a view to re-balancing a national audiovisual media service, which is often accused of being "a bastion of left-wing politics." WNL, or Wakker Nederland which roughly translates as "Netherlands Wake-Up," is the brainchild of journalists from the popular conservative daily De Telegraaf, while PowNed plans to offer "trendy and gratuitously over the top" news coverage. The spin-off from the GeenStijl.nl website is hoping to attract younger viewers with "hard-boiled, insolent and critical" reporting, which is brightened by "a touch of humour." Using a system unique in Europe, the Dutch Public Broadcasting service allots airtime to a range of political, religious and other associations, which have more than 50,000 members. The two new entities will take over a slot vacated by the Llink environmental association, whose license will be withdrawn.
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