Blurring the line between editorial and advertising in the Netherlands

Bart Brouwers, 50, has been at the forefront of the quest for a new business model for journalism ever since he started working at Spits, the Dutch free daily newspaper.

Last year Brouwers left his job as Spits' Editor in Chief to create a network of hyperlocal sites. But Splits' parent group, Telegraaf Media Groep, the largest media conglomerate in the country, asked him to stay in the group. So Brouwers became the first employee of a new hyperlocal spin-off called Dichtbij (Dutch for 'close by', or 'close to me').

The main idea behind hyperlocal journalism, Brouwers says, is to offer relevance from a local perspective - both news and information and a social space where members of a community can share experiences. Or, as Brouwers puts it, "a platform for sharing, curating and - in fact - mutualisation between professional and amateur".

In Brouwers' view, "Hyperlocal is all about social bonding, in media and in real life."

Does this make it like Facebook or Twitter? No, he says, social activity is not the main purpose of hyperlocal journalism; its main purpose is local relevance "in every aspect you can think of". But, to achieve this, not only the users but also the journalists are expected to get involved in social activities.

Dichtbij (see above) started last year with three pilot sites, in Zwolle, Woerden and Eindhoven. By last month it covered the entire Netherlands when more than 80 weekly Telegraaf Media Groep newspapers turned over their online activities to Dichtbij.

The 85 websites each have their own editorial and commercial staff. The network also includes more than 200 so-called 'light' sites which aggregate existing content. By the end of the summer, says Brouwers, Dichtbij will have more than 100 staff - a third editorial, a third commercial and a third 'the rest'.

It's been fast, but Brouwers says: "We're trying to keep a balance between opportunities and costs." The opportunities, however, are abundant: "There are so many nice places we still want to conquer."

And, to Brouwers, opportunities mean new ideas about journalism as well as commerce. "We pushed the envelope in relation to the 'mixed zone' between editorial and commercial," he explains. "(We made) some terrible mistakes but managed to find a field that wasn't covered by traditional media."

The system is sure to raise eyebrows amongst those who say the border between journalism and sales should not be crossed. "We talk with what used to be our advertisers and discuss with them their communication needs," Brouwers says. "We have the audience they want to reach. Of course, that's how it always was. But the difference is that we don't discuss square millimetres. Instead, we discuss the message they want to get across."

For example, a local bank does not just want to communicate about mortgage rates: "They just want everybody to know they care about the local community (not kidding). So we are writing about the events they are sponsoring: a festival, a sports clinic etc. Things we would want to write about anyway. One difference: we get paid for it."

Such material may include a news story (left) about the famous Silly Bandz bracelets being made available through a certain online store; a short feature about a sauna; or a report about a house renovation company taking advantage of a temporary tax cut to offer discounts to customers.

Such stories usually include links to the companies' websites and details on how to get the product or service. But in some cases there is no clear indication that they are in fact advertorials.

Brouwers says this is an editorial decision, not a commercial one.

If the content is editorially justified or, in other words, if the newsroom would have run the story anyway, mentioning the advertising deal may divert the reader's attention away from the gist of the article, he thinks.

He argues that being paid is only one of the factors influencing the journalist's work. Other influencers include background, education, friends, sympathies etc. "It's the task of the journalist to be trustworthy," he says.

Brouwers believes, at the same time, that the journalists of today should be entrepreneurial and work much closer than in the past with the advertising and sales departments. He likes to talk about attitude, and among the 20 golden rules he lays out for hyperlocal journalists he lists:

- "Collaborate, don't invent"

- "Get personal"

- "Be social"

- "Publish real-time"

- "Be easy-to-use"

- "Be open"

- "Mistakes are no #fail"

- "Use outside knowledge"

- "Offer your skills" (For the full list, go to this presentation by Brouwers on the Hyperlocal Attitude.)

Attitude may actually be Dichtbij's greatest asset in an environment where many media companies are experimenting with hyperlocal journalism without being able to show too many encouraging results. The Guardianrecently decided to end its local blogs in Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh. "Unfortunately, while the blogs have found engaged local readerships and had good editorial impact, the project is not sustainable in its present form," wrote Meg Pickard, the Guardian's Head of Digital Engagement.

In Romania, where big newspaper publishers have preferred to invest in print operations rather than innovative online publications, in June, Adevarul Holding killed one of its most ambitious projects, Adevarul de Seară. Started three years ago, it included around 50 local afternoon newspapers with a total print run of more than 500,000 copies a day.

In the meantime, Dichtbij is crossing over to print. Each of TMG's print weeklies now gives its back page over to Dichtbij, which uses it to showcase the best articles of the week; the most viewed and most commented stories; as well as some user-generated content such as pictures.

Alexandru-BrăduÅ£ Ulmanu, @bradutz, is a writer, journalist and author of Cartea feÅ£elor, a new book in Romanian about social media. He is also a print and online journalism trainer, and blogs about journalism, media and technology.

A version of this feature was first published by the European Journalism Centre.