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Interaction with the audience is often discussed as a goal (engagement, trust, relevance) but much less often as a concrete editorial practice. At Dutch current affairs programme EenVandaag, we learned that interaction only becomes meaningful when it is organised as part of journalism itself.

Over the past few years, EenVandaag has structurally embedded interaction into its newsroom. The approach, methods and lessons are documented in a practical handbook: Interactive Journalism - The Voice of Everyone. This article is based on that handbook and explains how interaction, with chat at its core, became a fixed part of editorial work.

Starting small: inviting questions

The starting point was modest. In the autumn of 2022, EenVandaag launched EenVandaag Asks: a simple call-out inviting the audience to submit questions about a current topic. The aim was not participation for its own sake, but clarification. Where are people stuck? What do they not understand? Which assumptions do journalists make that audiences do not share?

The response........

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