Journalist and media entrepreneur Derk Sauer has passed away at the age of 72. That’s according to Het Parool, for which he wrote a weekly column for many years. Sauer was seriously injured in Greece last month in an accident on his sailboat.
Sauer was with his wife Ellen when his boat unexpectedly ran onto a rock. He fell awkwardly and suffered serious physical injuries. The journalist was then treated in hospitals in Athens and Amsterdam, but according to the Amsterdam newspaper without result.
Sauer began his journalistic career as a reporter for various magazines, including Nieuwe Revu. He became editor-in-chief of that magazine in 1982. In 1989, Sauer left for Russia, where he founded Independent Media. That publishing house published, among other things, the independent daily newspaper The Moscow Times.
The Dutchman started The Moscow Times in 1992, a newspaper that provided Russians and expats with independent news. In addition, Sauer also continued to work for Dutch media. For example, he was president-commissioner of NRC between 2010 and 2015 and was chairman of the IDFA documentary festival for ten years. Sauer also had a column for Het Parool for more than thirty years.
Due to the strict Russian media law, Sauer fled to the Netherlands with his editors after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. From the Netherlands, Sauer and his editors tried to continue The Moscow Times.
‘A true fighter for press freedom’
According to Het Parool, the newspaper for which he wrote a column for more than thirty years, Sauer was “a true fighter for press freedom”. The Amsterdam newspaper writes this in response to his death.
“As a columnist, Derk was a valued and knowledgeable friend of our readers,” the newspaper said. “His columns were always spot on and relevant, especially since the war in Ukraine.” The newspaper also writes that as a journalist in Russia, Sauer managed to provide insight into the numerous major events. “With an eye for the ordinary Russian man or woman.”