On Sunday, editor-in-chief Gert-Jaap Hoekman looks back. This week: The struggle around Johan Derksen’s comeback and why we consciously wait with the results of the Eurovision Song Contest.
NU.nl is the fastest news site in the Netherlands. Now it wasn’t so difficult before. When we started in 1999, we weren’t necessarily very fast; our competitors were especially slower. If they did anything online at all.
We often broke the news first. Because we receive a checked message from news agencies earlier than others AP or Reuters placed.
You have to be careful
But the world has changed. Everyone posts their messages at lightning speed. If you haven’t already seen the news on social media, where journalists often don’t even play a role. So you have to be careful. Because being fast is nice, but it’s no use if it’s not right.
You have to be extra careful because many editors-in-chief have one bad quality. If a competitor has something, they want it too. Okay, let me speak for myself.
NU.nl currently has an editorial staff of about a hundred journalists. They have their own resources, which allows us to create exclusive stories. But we also keep an eye on all the other news. And we pick up the phone to get things confirmed.
Sometimes a painful mistake
That almost always goes well, but sometimes we make a painful mistake. For example, we recently reported the death of football agent Mino Raiola based on Italian media. La Gazzetta dello Sport is a reliable newspaper, so I understand that very well. But it turned out not to be true (at the time).
I thought about the time we sent a push message about the death of Jorge Zorreguieta, Máxima’s father. We did that because a reliable Argentine newspaper brought it. But the message was wrong. A very painful blunder. Years later, thankfully, I got the chance to apologize to the king for this.
Sometimes we have to wait, even if it feels unnatural.
comeback Today Inside
The news about the comeback of Today Inside came out messy this week. AD brought it on the basis of Johan Derksen. When he confirmed that to the news agency AP, we sent a push message. You would think he would know himself anyway.
SBS was unreachable for our editors for a long time, but more than an hour later called Derksen’s statements “premature”. According to the broadcaster, there was no mention of a return.
So then we had the same discussion again. Did we want too fast and too much? Should we have waited?
Sand in your eyes
But a day later it turned out that it was mainly SBS that threw sand in your eyes. The channel wanted to keep control and confirmed the news 24 hours after the denial.
There was nothing wrong with our estimate. But as you can see, our work can sometimes be quite a struggle.
Sometimes things are completely different and we deliver news more slowly on purpose. Our reporter Lara Zevenberg is in Turin this week for the Eurovision Song Contest. She knew yesterday before you who won, because the TV broadcast is always a minute behind.
We take that into account by waiting a while. Because NU.nl likes to bring the latest news first, but we don’t want to ruin your party.
Do you have a question or comment about this story? Mail the editor-in-chief at [email protected].