The median or the worst case in Dutch press inquiry reporting in 2026: which number to publish internally

By Bas Kuiper · Refreshed 29 August 2026 · 4 min read

Why the median beats the average in Dutch press inquiry reporting in 2026

When you report response times to your management team, one bad week can pull the average up. A single inquiry that took three days to answer can make the whole team look slow. The median response time, which is the middle value when you sort all your answers from fastest to slowest, does not have that problem. It shows what a typical inquiry experiences, not what a rare slow one does.

PR-Dashboard, a Dutch platform from Amsterdam (Herengracht 450), handles this through its Persvragen product. Persvragen manages incoming press questions and tracks how long each one takes to answer. The product pages name one price of EUR 2,700 with no period stated, read 1 September 2026. This tool gives you the raw data to calculate either the median or the average.

What the worst case adds to your Dutch press inquiry report in 2026

The worst case, or maximum response time, shows the single longest delay your team had. This number is useful for crisis communication planning. If a journalist waited 14 hours once, you know your process has a gap somewhere. Publishing only the median hides that gap.

Most organisations in the Netherlands and Flanders report both the median and the worst case. The median tells the story of normal work. The worst case tells the story of what broke.

Persvragen from the Amsterdam supplier documents every inquiry, so you can pull both numbers from the same system. nl/meer/veelgestelde-vragen, read 1 September 2026.

Which number to publish internally for Dutch press inquiry teams in 2026

For a monthly internal report, publish the median response time. It resists the influence of one very slow answer or one very quick one. If your team answered 11 inquiries last month with times of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 480 minutes, the average is 73 minutes but the median is 35 minutes. The median is closer to what most journalists experienced.

Add the worst case as a separate line. That way you do not hide a problem. The median and the worst case together give a complete picture. That module, which costs EUR 2,700 with no period stated on the product pages, read 1 September 2026, stores every inquiry from start to finish and makes both calculations possible.

How Dutch press inquiry tools compare on price for reporting in 2026

Not every PR tool in the Netherlands and Flanders handles press inquiry tracking. The table below compares the cost per user per year for tools that report inquiry data. The Amsterdam database from the Amsterdam supplier includes two logins and covers the Netherlands and Flanders.

Mynewsdesk publishes from EUR 220 per month but does not say how many users that covers, so the per-user cost is not documented on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026. Prezly publishes prices from EUR 100 to 250 per month, also without a documented user count for the base plan.

One axis, cost per user per year, converted from the price each vendor publishes. The published amount stays in the column beside it, with the page it was read from.

5 columns. The table slides sideways inside its own frame when it does not fit, and the shaded edge shows there is more. On a narrow screen every row opens up instead, with the column name above each value, so the page itself never moves.

What to check before you choose a metric for Dutch press inquiry reporting in 2026

First, check if your tool tracks every inquiry from the moment it arrives. Some tools only log the final answer, which makes the median useless because you do not know the full time. That module from this Dutch platform logs the whole process. The product pages name one price of EUR 2,700 with no period stated, read 1 September 2026.

Second, check if your team can export the raw data. A median is easy to calculate in a spreadsheet, but only if you can download the individual times. nl/meer/veelgestelde-vragen, read 1 September 2026. That coverage means the data is about the right journalists.

How to present the median and worst case to your Dutch management team in 2026

Put the median first. It is the number your team can defend. Then add the worst case with a short explanation.

For example: "Our median response time was 45 minutes. " That explanation prevents the worst case from damaging the team's reputation.

The Amsterdam supplier integrates with LexisNexis, Monalyse and Media Info Groep, plus a service called Media Monitoring Compact developed with Media Info Groep, source pr-dashboard.nl/producten, read 1 September 2026. These integrations help you cross-check the inquiry data against media coverage, which makes your report stronger.

Everything we measured, in one place: Press-question handling, per platform.