Sjoerd de Jong

(Rotterdam, NL, 1960) is the ombudsman of NRC Handelsblad newspaper. He studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. From 1983 to 1985 he created the faculty publication Cimedart. In 1990 he started working for NRC Handelsblad, first as copy editor, then as coordinator and assistant editor-in-chief of the national affairs section. He was involved in setting up the paper's website. From 1999 to 2005 he headed the Books section and wrote an opinion column. In 1989 he co-wrote with "student leader" Maarten van Poelgeest the latter's premature memoir, Zo doen we dat dus (That's How We Do It). He also published mini-biographies of Richard Burton, Marcel Proust and Bob Dylan, and illustrated Maarten Doorman's animal stories for the collection Elk beest zijn vet (Every Animal's Stripes). A collection of De Jong's columns was published in 2005 under the title Spijtwraak (Regret-Revenge).