René van Zanten is the General Director of the Dutch Journalism Fund.
After a few years of studying Economics, he started (1980) working as a journalist for one of the most prestigious regional newspapers in the Netherlands (Haagsche Courant). He worked as a roving reporter, covering international issues with emphasis on East-West relations. He is a German Marshall Fund alumni as well as an Atlantic Exchange alumni.

In 1995, he became the Editor-in-Chief of the big regional newspaper Utrechts Nieuwsblad and in 2003 he became the publisher/director of the biggest regional newspaper in the Netherlands, De Gelderlander. He started at the Dutch Journalism Fund in 2011.

The Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek, or Dutch Journalism Fund, supports the quality, diversity and independence of journalism in The Netherlands by promoting innovation. To achieve this goal, the fund provides grants to innovative journalism projects, conducts research and stimulates knowledge sharing across the industry.

He is the co-founder of an annual lecture on Europe and is passionate about finding ways to connect journalism to all new, current, accelerating challenges.