A Dutch current affairs programme transformed its newsroom by making real-time audience interaction a core editorial practice, using chat products to surface questions, clarify reporting, and build trust
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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 confirmed something important: many people have questions, but only ask them when explicitly invited. These early call-outs forced the newsroom to explain concepts it had long considered self-evident. They also demonstrated that interaction works best when it starts before stories are finished.
From experiment to permanent team
Insights from EenVandaag Asks led to internal discussions and, eventually, to a concrete plan: a permanent interaction team with a clear journalistic task. The proposal was approved, resources were allocated, and in spring 2023 a new team of editors started.
Their mandate was specific: listen to the audience daily, answer questions, gather signals, and translate public input into editorial insights. Interaction was no longer something ‘extra’, but a structural part of the newsroom.
Chat as the central listening tool
At the heart of this approach is the chat. The interaction team set up a continuous chat environment using existing software, integrated into the website, the app and later WhatsApp. Since May 2023, the chat has been available on weekdays from 10:00 to 20:00, with journalists actively responding especially during TV broadcasts, when viewers are explicitly invited to use it.
The chat serves a clear journalistic function. It shows, in real time, where explanations fall short, which questions dominate, and which concerns surface first. Unlike surveys, chat input is immediate and conversational. It reveals confusion, frustration or curiosity while a story is still unfolding.
Importantly, the chat is not treated as customer service or moderation. It is editorial material. Messages are read, categorised and interpreted as signals about information needs, blind spots or public experiences that deserve attention.
From messages to editorial insight
Interaction only adds value when input is processed systematically. The interaction team does not forward individual messages as anecdotes. Instead, chat input is combined with call-outs and questionnaires, clustered thematically and translated into insights for the newsroom.
These insights answer practical editorial questions:
This analysis regularly influences editorial choices: whether a topic needs extra explanation, a different expert, or a follow-up story. Some stories would not have existed without these signals; others became clearer and more precise because of them.
Closing the loop
A core principle in the handbook is visibility. Audiences need to see what happens with their input. Not every question leads to a story, nor should it, but editorial choices must be explained.
This happens in different ways: by explicitly stating that a story is based on audience questions, by summarising recurring themes, or by correcting or clarifying information in the chat itself. Even when people do not actively participate, research shows they value the existence of the chat. Accessibility signals openness, and openness contributes to trust.
What interaction changes in practice
Structurally organising interaction changed the way journalism is practised at EenVandaag. Editors became more precise in their explanations and more conscious of assumptions. Journalists learned to see repeated questions not as a lack of attention, but as a signal of insufficient clarity.
Over time, interaction also made editorial work more transparent. Viewers understood better why certain choices were made and that journalism is a process, not a finished product.
Documenting the approach
To prevent this way of working from remaining implicit or dependent on individuals, EenVandaag documented its approach in a handbook. It describes principles, organisational choices, formats and pitfalls, with a strong emphasis on chat as a listening instrument.
The handbook does not present a blueprint. Instead, it offers a structured way of thinking about interaction: how to start small, how to organise a team, how to process input, and how to safeguard journalistic independence while listening seriously.
Lessons for other newsrooms
The experience at EenVandaag suggests a few transferable lessons:
In a time of news avoidance and declining trust, interaction is not a solution on its own. But at EenVandaag, it has proven to be a realistic and journalistic way to reconnect news with the people it serves. Not by speaking louder, but by listening better.
