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t took time, effort and resources, but it paid off: NU.nl, which was acquired by DPG Media over three years ago, has turned NUjij into its secret weapon. While many other media outlets struggle with reader engagement, NU.nl was ahead of the curve when it launched NUjij four years ago – leaving the competition in the dust, says deputy editor-in-chief Colin van Hoek. “We write stories based on readers’ questions every day, so our readers feel heard.” 

On the NUjij platform, readers can comment on news articles and are invited to share their thoughts on issues that are relevant to them. And while those responses, questions and suggestions do require constant moderation to filter out abusive comments, they also provide valuable ammunition for subsequent articles. A team of community moderators creates a daily top 10 of reader questions, which journalists sink their teeth into every morning. 

“We’ve got five full-time moderators,” Van Hoek says. “And about 80 per cent of the replies are moderated by an automated system. Some are rejected for violating community guidelines, but most are fine and get published. The remaining 20 per cent, which are too ambiguous to be moderated by the system, are sent to our human moderators, who manually evaluate them. So it remains a labour-intensive process, but that’s a very conscious decision we made because we want to provide a safe environment where everyone can express their opinion.”

“And just as importantly, the interaction with our readers produces super relevant questions. Covid was a big help in that sense. The pandemic had a direct effect on everyone, and our readers asked us questions that had never been answered before. So we were able to use those to write very well-read articles. And we kept using the same approach after Covid. For example, when there were riots following World Cup matches and ‘neighbourhood fathers’ were tasked with keeping the peace, we were asked who these people were exactly, and how they got that job.”