The Handelsblatt forum
That journalism is a conversation, rather than a broadcast, has become a popular mantra. Media outlets have embraced the idea of letting readers participate by allowing them to comment on the stories they are reading. The hope is that by engaging the audience the media will be able to build a community of readers united around a sense of ownership in what is being published.
At the forefront of this we find The Economist, which has managed to create a cult following, in turn fuelling readers’ comments, a huge Letters to the Editor section, and vibrant online debates. Another member of the Pearson family, the Financial Times, is now looking to replicate The Economist’s success in building, and tapping into, a devoted community of readers/contributors. On the other side of the Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal has recently launched a new initiative called Journal Community. The New York Times has a Public Editor whose job is to be “the readers’ representative”. In the English-speaking world it is now almost impossible to come across a newspaper website that does not have a blogs section where its journalists are trying to reach out to readers and engage them in discussion.
But in Germany the leading business newspaper, Handelsblatt, has taken an even bigger stride towards integrating audience input into its online offering by setting up a forum for readers to contribute and share their opinion. The section has been given prominence by placing a link to it at the top of the Handelsblatt homepage: a clear sign of how important the newspaper thinks it is.
On the forum’s homepage users are greeted by an unobtrusive disclaimer and the sub-forums are immediately accessible. Topics are split into seven categories. Five match the website’s content sections: Finance, Companies, Politics, Technology and Journal (a mixture of sports, arts and lifestyle). The other two are for General Discussion and Polls, demonstrating the newspaper’s genuine commitment to talking to its audience even on subjects other than what its journalists deem relevant. New threads can be started by any user.
On the right-hand side of the page sits the usual forum statistics: the number of users, posts and topics, newest posts, most discussed and most read topics, etc. In a clever move, the last two boxes in the statistics set list the posts that are still awaiting a reply and the 10 most active users, encouraging readers to take part and rewarding them for their participation.
Users are free to browse the forum and no registration is required up until the point when one wants to post a reply. Somewhat confusingly readers get a Bad Request message (in Mozilla Firefox) if they try to look up the profiles of other users when not logged in. But that is a minor flaw unlikely to be spotted by anyone other than a reviewer looking for flaws.
Letting your readers tell their stories is smart. Encouraging them to do so is even smarter. But what makes the Handelsblatt forum truly shine is the very nature of its audience. As the largest business paper in German, it is targeted at decision- and opinion-makers throughout the German-speaking part of Europe. The people who write on its forums are the people who make the news it is covering. Their stories are a worthy read and it can be argued that they, rather than the paper’s journalists, are the true experts on the topics under discussion. Handelsblatt deserves high praise for letting them speak.
VERDICT
Originality: 5 (out of 5)
As far as we know, none of Handelsblatt’s peers in Europe runs a forum on its website.
Presentation: 4 (out of 5)
A minor bug does little to mar an otherwise straightforward and intuitive design.
Journalistic value: 5 (out of 5)
It’s participation journalism at its best. Contributors are, by and large, experts in their field.
Overall: 4.9 (out of 5)
Outstanding.
—
See here how ratings work.
—
We could use your help. Contact us if you’d like to suggest a story worth reviewing, become a reviewer or get involved in any other way.
