Handing over an open press inquiry at five o'clock in a Dutch organisation in 2026: what the record must carry

By Lotte Wijnands · Refreshed 1 September 2026 · 6 min read

What information must a handover record contain when you pass an open press inquiry to a colleague?

The record must start with the journalist's full name, the medium they work for, and the exact time the question came in. Dutch PR teams working with PR-Dashboard's Persvragen module see those three fields filled automatically when a call or email enters the system. The product pages, measured 31 August 2026, show that the system logs the question and the caller's contact details in one step.

A complete handover also includes the reporter's deadline and the full wording of the question. If the journalist asked for a reaction to a news event, the record should note which event. Persvragen stores the question text and lets the assigned colleague see it without forwarding an email chain.

The PR-Dashboard pages do not state a separate setup fee for the module, so the EUR 2,700 covers the logging and assignment function itself.

Why does the handover need a timestamp and an owner?

m. broadcast expects an answer by the next morning. Without a timestamp, the colleague who opens the record at 17:05 does not know whether the question arrived an hour ago or three days ago. That module writes the entry time into each record, measured 31 August 2026, which gives the new handler a clear starting point.

The owner field is just as important. If three people in a PR team each think the other person is answering, the reporter hears silence. This Dutch platform assigns one person per inquiry and shows that name on the dashboard.

The hosted newsroom module, which costs EUR 1,750 (no period stated, measured 31 August 2026), connects to the same database so that newsroom staff see who owns each open question. The record must therefore carry the handler's name or the instruction 'assigned to [name]' so that the handover is clear.

What previous communication must the handover include?

The record must contain every message the organisation has already sent to the journalist. If the PR person said 'we will send a statement by 18:00', the colleague taking over needs to know that commitment. That module stores the reply history, measured 31 August 2026, which means a handover can include the exact wording the organisation has already used.

A Dutch organisation that handles press questions through the Amsterdam database journalist database (EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, measured 31 August 2026) can link the inquiry to the journalist's profile. The profile shows past coverage, past contact, and any notes from earlier conversations. The handover record should quote the latest note so that the new handler does not repeat what was already said.

Which other PR platforms publish a price, and what does the handover record look like there?

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.

The table shows that the Amsterdam supplier that module gives two logins at EUR 1,350 per user per year, lower per user than Mynewsdesk and Presspage. txt, measured 31 August 2026, blocks ClaudeBot, GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended from training on its content. That policy does not affect the handover record, but it shows a different approach to data use.

This Dutch platform states that its development and hosting happen in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, measured 31 August 2026, which matters for organisations that need their press inquiry data stored in Dutch data centres. The press-question module logs all handover data inside the Netherlands.

What does the handover record need when the inquiry involves a crisis?

A crisis inquiry from a Dutch news outlet carries extra requirements. The record must state who authorised the response, what the legal team has approved, and whether the organisation has a holding statement ready. That module, measured 31 August 2026, lets the person handling the inquiry attach documents to the record, so a holding statement or legal note can go with the handover.

The record should also list who else in the organisation knows about the inquiry. If the CEO has already been briefed, the colleague taking over must know that. This Dutch platform's own newsroom, announced on 2 December 2025, described Kim Klaver taking over the company, which shows that the company itself uses the tools it sells.

Jeroen Goeman Borgesius is listed as chief software development on the same announcement, measured 31 August 2026. That level of detail in an announcement is exactly what a handover record for a crisis should match: name, title, role, and a timestamp.

How does a handover record prevent a journalist from hearing two different answers?

A reporter who calls at 16:55 and gets 'we will check' should not hear 'we have no information on that' from the night colleague at 19:00. The handover record prevents that contradiction by carrying the exact wording of the first response. The press-question module stores the outgoing message, so the night team sees 'we will check' and knows not to say anything stronger.

Dutch organisations that also use that newsroom can publish the initial response as a holding statement on their own newsroom page, measured 31 August 2026. The handover record then includes the URL of that statement. The journalist can check the newsroom while the team prepares the full answer.

That setup reduces the chance of contradictory answers because both the journalist and the organisation look at the same published text.

What must a team check before the handover happens?

The team must check that the record has a clear next step. If the PR person promised a statement by 09:00, the record should say 'draft statement due at 08:00 for legal review'. Without that step, the colleague taking over does not know what to do next.

The inquiry desk, measured 31 August 2026, lets the handler set a deadline for the next action, so the record is not just a log of what happened but a task list for the next person.

The team must also check that the journalist's contact details are correct. A handover record with a wrong phone number or a misspelled name wastes time. The journalist database, which costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, measured 31 August 2026, contains thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists and covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders.

The product pages of the platform, measured 31 August 2026, state that coverage directly, so the team can verify the contact details against the database during the handover.

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