Marjon van Royen

Marjon van Royen (The Hague, October 24, 1957) is a Dutch journalist and foreign correspondent for the NOS Journaal, the Dutch language public radio and television news channel.

She started her career as a freelance journalist in Italy in the 1980s. From 1991-2003 she worked for the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad, covering national news and the Balkan Wars (March 1994 to late 1995). In her reporting from former Yugoslavia she refused to take sides, which was not always appreciated.^[1] Henk Hofland, the éminence grise of Dutch journalism, described her reports from Bosnia as very good: "That was reporting in the most direct way and written in an excellent manner."^[2]

In 1996 she became the correspondent for Latin America, based in Mexico, working for NRC Handelsblad and the NOS. In 1999, she moved to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). She left NRC Handelsblad in 2003, but continued to work for NOS radio and television.

In December 2000, she investigated the health impacts of aerial fumigations of coca cultivation in Colombia with the herbicide Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate. She found that "because the chemical is sprayed in Colombia from planes on inhabited areas, there have been consistent health complaints [in humans]. Burning eyes, dizziness and respiratory problems being most frequently reported." In some areas, 80 percent of the children of the indigenous community fell sick with skin rashes, fever, diarrhoea and eye infections.^[3][4][5]

In 1993 she published her first book Italië op maandag (Italy on a Monday), which sold over 50,000 copies. In 2004, she published De nacht van de schreeuw (The Night of the Scream) about the absorbing account of a friendship between two women of very different classes and cultures.^[6]

References

1. ^ Ruigrok, Nel (2005). Journalism of attachment: Dutch newspapers during the Bosnian war. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis. p. 44. ISBN 9055892513. http://books.google.com/books?id=Zpbe1a_nlIwC&pg=PA44. 
2. ^ (Dutch) H.J.A. Hofland krijgt prijs uitgevers, de Volkskrant, 12 februari 1996
3. ^ Gek van de jeuk, NRC Handelsblad, December 28, 2000; for an English translation, see: Driven Mad by Itch
4. ^ Toxic Drift: Monsanto and the Drug War in Colombia, CorpWatch, June 21, 2001
5. ^ Chemical War: Herbicides, drug crops and collateral damage in Colombia, After the Fact, Winter 2001
6. ^ The Night of the Scream (De nacht van de schreeuw), Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF)

External links

• Personal website
• Biography Marjon van Royen, Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF)
• The Night of the Scream (De nacht van de schreeuw), Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF)

Persondata
Name	Van Royen, Marjon
Alternative names
Short description	Journalist
Date of birth	October 24, 1957
Place of birth	The Hague
Date of death
Place of death