As we approach the end of a global ‘super election year’ that sees a rise in authoritarian rule threatening an already beleaguered media landscape worldwide, a comprehensive new report by Schibsted Media weighs in on the role of free press in a strong democracy – and proffers actionable solutions for European news media to boost efforts to remain relevant.
The report, Editorial Media As Defenders Of European Democracies, identifies “four fundamental prerequisites that must be in place for editorial media to regain a strong ability to defend liberal democracies.”
Of these, three key change drivers are within news organisations’ control: Producing credible and relevant content; Ensuring reach, and Being innovative.
The fourth prerequisite focuses on regulatory frameworks.
This extract below – an interview with Karel Verhoeven, Editor-in-Chief at De Standaard since 2010 – is taken from Part 2: “Specific conditions in the relationship between the media and citizens that are significant for the media’s impact on democracy,” which features several case studies that explore how news media can remain relevant with credible content that instils trust and loyalty.
De Standaard ́s focus on solutions and emotions
“The discussion started in our newsroom about two years ago,” explains Verhoeven.
“The news was all about war, inflation, the energy crisis, migration, and the threat to democracy, and we realised that in the midst of these multiple crises, we rarely broke away from negative news frames.
“We had to acknowledge that we were good at describing and analyzing the threats, at pointing out all the dangers and the failures. But where in this gloomy world do we leave our reader?
‘Is there a way to be on the side of the reader in her/his attempt first of all to make better sense of it all, to equip the reader to navigate the unsettled world and to deal with
the practical and emotional fall-out? Could journalism, while not forsaking its truth speaking, also be a shelter?’
De Standaard is a 106-year-old Dutch-language newspaper of record based in Brussels, politically centred, primarily focused on politics, economy, and culture.
Verhoeven explains the newspaper’s initiative.
“One afternoon early in the fall of 2023, we gathered with the heads of the newspaper sections for a lengthy seminar on how to invigorate our reporting.
“We came up with the slogan ‘We’ve got your back.’ This should define how we relate to our readers, we said. We’re at your side. We’ll first of all uncover the most important stories and facts that need to be brought to light. But we’ll also help you to understand the world, and we’ll find out what you can do, how we can act, and how some of the problems could be resolved.
“We also wanted to listen better. Many of our readers are experts, as teachers, lawyers, nurses, politicians, artists, administrators. How could we tap into this collective wisdom and knowledge?
“So we built a new initiative that allows for readers to engage with other readers in a constructive way. Central to this endeavour is the quest for practical solutions to longstanding issues about which regular politics are out of breath, about which are too divided, or stuck.
‘In this tool, we launch, during five consecutive weeks, one debate per day, and support this debate with journalism. Then it is up to the readers to take up the debate, launch solutions, seek approval, discuss amongst themselves, and favor some of the solutions above other proposals.
“Every day we publish journalism in some form of a solution, and at the end of the week we select some of the more remarkable suggestions and publish them to all readers.”
Generating engagement with AI support
De Standaard launched this with a national advertising campaign in November 2023. We were then seven months away from the June 9, 2024 general elections for the regional, federal and European parliaments.
They invited their readers to discuss topics like education, health, mobility, societal tensions, and climate. To ensure a respectful, coherent, and interactive discussion and organize the debate, the newspaper is using a newly developed digital, AI-based tool.
“To give you an idea of the engagement generated through the tool we use: we have had 3,500 readers who have submitted suggestions for specific solution-oriented news stories.
This has created reactions and engagement from 89,000 others, either in the form of a short comment or a vote. We are very pleased with that,” says Verhoeven.
De Standaard reaches 400,000 readers on a daily basis.
The professional journalistic discussions about more solution-oriented journalism usually revolve around the role and credibility of journalism. One concern is that solution-oriented journalism should not stand in the way of the honest and un- varnished portrayal of reality as it truly is.
Verhoeven believes that there are no contradictions in this.
“Of course, you can’t write daily about the war and bloodshed in Gaza in terms of what the solution could be; of what readers themselves can contribute. But readers are at a loss, first of all in how to truly understand the bitterness of the conflict.
“One of the ways to do ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ is to make a podcast series on the history of the conflict, so that you tend to have a real profound insight into the politics and emotions that are at play both in Israel and in the West Bank and in Gaza. And this is a way of helping readers to deal with the world.”
… On saving the future
Verhoven says that politics in Belgium is stuck in the trenches of a linguistically and ideologically divided nation. Regional and federal politics are often at odds, and the squabbles of party politics paralyze governments.
“The initiative De Standaard undertook, was an attempt to free the discussion on important issues from this stalemate and bring about a positive political vibe in the face of three elections – regional election, federal and European.
“The polls indicated that in Flanders, the far right was on the rise and had a good chance of winning the elections and coming out as the first party with close to 30 percent of the vote. This chilling prospect dominated the campaign from early on,” he says.
A prominent survey conducted by De Standaard early in the campaign, in collaboration with a public broadcaster and two universities, indicated a deep mistrust in democracy.
“Only one percent of Flemish people think that democracy is functioning ‘very well’ in Flanders. One percent. A quarter of the population thinks democracy functions ‘reasonably well’.
“That’s really problematic and one of the reasons we launched the ‘Save the Future’ campaign in November 2023. We selected five different themes and invited readers to suggest solutions – and they really did. They brought us to more original stories which were more solution-driven, asked interesting questions and came with interesting reflections. And: these stories were very intensely read,” concludes Verhoeven.
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