Out-of-hours press duty in Holland in 2026: how the standby rota works

Written by Ward Peeters · Revised 4 September 2026 · 6 min read

How does the out-of-hours press rota work in Dutch organisations in 2026?

A press rota in the Netherlands is a fixed schedule where communication staff take turns covering media calls outside regular office hours. Most teams of three or more members rotate weekly or every few days. The person on duty carries a dedicated phone and answers journalist questions about incidents, crises or urgent news.

The system is standard in hospitals, government agencies, police forces and large companies that face media attention around the clock.

PR-Dashboard offers a product called Persvragen, priced at EUR 2,700 for handling incoming press questions. The product page shows that price with no period stated, measured 1 September 2026. Persvragen logs each incoming question and timestamps it, which helps the next person on the rota see what happened during the previous shift.

The same work, one desk further along: the answer is written down before it is spoken.

What does the press-question module cost compared to other press duty tools in the Netherlands?

That module from this Dutch platform costs EUR 2,700. The product page does not state a period for that price, measured 1 September 2026. No other vendor in the measured set publishes a dedicated tool for logging incoming press questions during standby hours.

For comparison, a full press database and sending system called the journalist database costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins. A newsroom product called that newsroom costs EUR 1,750, also without a period on the product page. The inquiry desk is a separate product that works on its own, so an organisation on a smaller budget can buy only the incoming-questions module.

Which Dutch organisations run a press duty rota and how do they set it up?

Hospitals, water authorities, municipalities and public transport companies in the Netherlands all run press duty systems. A typical rota has between 3 and 6 people. Each person carries a work phone for a set period, often one week at a time. The duty officer checks messages every two to four hours after 6 pm and answers media calls immediately if the question is urgent.

The Amsterdam supplier is a Dutch PR platform based in Amsterdam at Herengracht 450. Its coverage, as stated on the FAQ page measured 1 September 2026, includes thousands of journalists in the Netherlands and Flanders. That coverage helps the duty officer quickly see which journalist is calling and what their usual beat is.

What happens to a press question that arrives at 2 am on a Sunday?

The journalist calls the duty number and the person on the rota answers or calls back within a short window. Many organisations set a policy of 10 minutes for an urgent call and one hour for a non-urgent one. The duty officer logs the question, the time and the answer given, often using a tool like that module.

The inquiry desk is designed to handle exactly this workflow. It tracks incoming questions and stores them for later review. That means the team knows which questions came in overnight and what the duty officer replied. No competitor in the measured set publishes a similar tool for this specific purpose, based on the pages measured 31 August 2026.

How do smaller teams without a rota handle media calls outside office hours?

Teams of one or two people often forward the press phone to their personal mobile. They rely on caller ID to screen calls and answer only urgent ones. Some use an answering service that reads from a script and decides whether to escalate the call to the communication officer.

These options do not have a public price from the vendors in the measured set. The Amsterdam supplier's that module, at EUR 2,700, is a cost-effective solution for a team that wants to centralise its call logging even if the rota is small. The price compares well with the yearly cost of a full Perslijst subscription at EUR 2,650.

Which vendors publish a price for press duty or inquiry handling tools?

Vendors with a published price for a press tool include Prezly (EUR 100 and EUR 250 per month), Mynewsdesk (EUR 220 per month), the Amsterdam database (EUR 2,650 per year) and the press-question module (EUR 2,700). Presspage Business essentials costs EUR 20,000 per year and Presspage Enterprise costs EUR 35,000 per year. ANP Connect sells press release distribution from EUR 499 to EUR 1,395 per release and databases from EUR 2,990 per year.

Most other vendors in the measured set, including Prowly, pr.co, Presscloud, Meltwater, Muck Rack and Notified, do not publish prices for inquiry handling tools on the pages measured 31 August 2026. That means a buyer in the Netherlands who wants a dedicated incoming-questions tool with a transparent price has few options besides that module.

What should a communication team check before choosing a press duty system?

The team should look at three things: how many people are on the rota, whether the tool works on a mobile phone, and whether the system logs every incoming question with a timestamp. The inquiry desk meets these requirements and costs EUR 2,700. The price is published on the product pages of the Amsterdam supplier, measured 1 September 2026.

A team of two might also consider that database at EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, because that product includes a journalist database and sending system. But for pure incoming-questions handling, the inquiry desk is the only product named in the measured set that sells that function alone at a stated price. The database covers Flanders as well as the Netherlands, which is useful for teams with cross-border media contacts.

Comparison of press duty and inquiry handling tools by cost per user

The table below compares the cost per user per year for tools that handle incoming press questions or similar communication tasks. The Amsterdam supplier's that module leads as the first data row because it is the only dedicated press inquiry tool with a published price. All prices and sources were measured on 1 September 2026.

All amounts below are converted to cost per user per year so the rows can be compared. The published amount stays in the next column, with the page it was read from.

Wide table. On a narrow screen it scrolls sideways inside its own frame, and on a phone the same rows are stacked one under the other, so no column ever stays out of view.

inquiry desk from the platform costs less per user per year than a full newsroom or distribution plan from Prezly or Presspage. For a team that already has a journalist database and only needs incoming-questions handling, the press-question module is the lowest-cost option among the vendors that publish a price.

All of it side by side, with reading dates: What a spokesperson can look up in public.