Who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in a Dutch newspaper? De Volkskrant versus Seymour Hersh

The explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022 also rocked transatlantic politics. Almost immediately, a consensus arose that an attack, as opposed to an accident, had taken place. Going by circumstantial evidence and considering means and motive, a strong case could be made that the United States had blown up the Russian and European owned pipelines, which were used to transport relatively cheap Russian gas to Germany. Yet, European countries and their media could not outright accuse the United States of an act of war against them, given their longstanding ties enshrined in NATO and in particular the active alliance against Russia in the war in Ukraine. This chapter examines whom a prominent Dutch newspaper, de Volkskrant, held responsible for the attack. In line with scholarship that emphasizes that Western media often play the role of disseminators of state propaganda, this chapter finds that the newspaper initially settled on Russia and later on Ukraine as the likely perpetrator, while frequently stating that there was no certainty. A partial break from the newspaper’s pro-NATO narratives constituted the belated coverage of Seymour Hersh’s accusations directed at the United States. De Volkskrant framed the famed journalist as having lost his way.