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BILDblog founder on lessons learned while writing a book

High-profile media watch blogs are few and far between in Europe. One exception is BILDblog, which keeps a close eye on Europe’s biggest-selling tabloid newspaper, BILD.

Investigative journalist Christoph Schultheis is the co-founder of BILDblog, which started in 2004 and is now one of Germany’s most-read blogs. Before starting BILDblog, he wrote for the media pages of Berliner Zeitung and the daily paper, taz.

In this EJC interview he talks about reporting of right-wing politics in the German media, the future of online journalism and the curse of the 24/7 blogger who starts writing books…

Martin Steinmetz, EJC: You have written a book on everyday situations in which right-wing politics arise. What kind of experience was it, especially going from working as an online journalist to writing a book?

Christoph Schultheis: To be honest: writing books is hard work. For example, one chapter in the book is about far-right movements using social media and online networks to spread their ideology. There is another one on Islamohophia. Yet another deals with right-wing esoterics.

It would be much more interesting for the reader if I was writing about these topics online: I could back up my research with relevant links. The reader could also get more involved in the discussion. You have the option of linking to in-depth features and other publications on the same topic. If you’re writing a book you need to go into a lot more detail when it comes to quoting people, describing situations and facts, or making footnotes. Ideally, the outcome is that you have covered a topic from many different angles. However, the information you’re presenting has a shelf life and you can’t include as many aspects that are new and up-to-date as when you’re blogging. 

Besides, writing books is a much more ‘lonely’ activity than blogging: I was in direct contact with my readers during my blogging days. They would follow my research, make comments and suggestions, or provide follow-up ideas. It was a system of checks and balances, if you will. As an online journalist, you also have a much better idea of who your target audience is. 

In the process of writing the book, my colleague Astrid Geisler and I only had a vague idea of who we were writing for. We had to imagine our audience.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss that interaction with the reader.

Also, I was able to support myself financially as a blogger for several years, but writing books is not as lucrative as you might think…

The biggest difference to blogging was the depth of research that I could go into, being on-location and having face-to-face chats with people.

Quality journalism isn’t just good because it’s printed on a piece of paper

If the topic of right-wing politics wasn’t so unpleasant, I would say that, compared to sitting behind a desk and blogging, it was a really positive experience.

EJC: What’s the essence of the book? What is it about?

Schultheis: It is a collection of investigative reports from Germany. We describe the many forms and guises of right-wing views and how they can find their way into everyday life. It is not a sensational book that deals with skinheads, bomber jackets and the NPD [Germany’s right-wing nationalist party].

It describes everyday situations where far-right extremism is not perceived as a threat, but as normal. We were at meetings where members of the right-wing scene said that Jewish people had invented AIDS as a type of biological weapon. Another example: a judge who did not see a political motive after a well-known neo-Nazi beat up a teenager who was wearing a T-Shirt saying “Nazis – No thanks”.

EJC: What is your opinion on reports on far-right politics in the German media?
Schultheis: Apart from a few exceptions, reports on right-wing extremism have, very often, become routine, superficial and merely relate to on-diary events or things that have happened; Politicians who again and again demand an NPD ban get the media’s attention.

Another example: all media were equally keen to get the story of suspected neo-Nazis who beat up an African man until he slipped into a coma (which happened during the 2006 World Cup). It was sensationalised. The tragic thing is that the headlines disappear within a few weeks, but the problems remain.

EJC: You are co-founder of BILDblog, a media watch blog for Gemany’s most-read tabloid newspaper. For four years, you blogged about misreporting, media ethics and BILD’s style of journalism.

Philiosopher Jürgen Habermas quoted your blog as an example of a well-functioning “public sphere” online. How can readers / bloggers and consumers of media contribute to this “public sphere”?

Schultheis: At BILDblog, we encouraged our readers to submit relevant information, for example if they found discrepancies, mistakes or other examples of sloppy journalism. We were also in regular contact with people who had become victims of “BILD’s” reporting.

Projects like BILDblog are impossible without support from the public. We started with limited funds and not a lot of technical know-how. But it goes to show that the beauty of online journalism is that everyone can do it. Potentially, anyone can draw public attention to their own project or publication – through stimulating comments or track backs.

Gatekeepers are no longer in charge of publicity, the users themselves are. 

EJC: From own experience, is there a way of funding independent, investigative journalism?

Schultheis: I think finance should always come second. When my colleague Stefan Niggemeyer and I started investigating the journalistic pitfalls of Europe’s best-selling tabloid, we did it out of conviction. We invested a lot of our own time and money, but weren’t aiming for profit. The idealism and the quality of our reporting made BILDblog a success. 

We were able to finance our work through donations and advertising, once we had reached a daily readership of around 50,000. At that point we had become Germany’s most popular blog. We didn’t make a lot of money from it and had to be pretty stingy.

In the USA, it’s a different story: thanks to the help of heavyweight sponsors, independent media such as “Huffington Post” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “ProPublica” are able to flourish. I often wish we had a similar system in place in Europe. 

EJC: What is your advice when reporting on journalist colleagues? 

Schultheis: I don’t have any. You should be just as thorough as any other sports, economics, politics or regional journalist. Although it’s surprising at times how thin-skinned journalists can be when you criticise them, even though they are often starting public blows.

EJC: Do you think journalists often lack the ability to reflect on their work? Because of the nature of our industry, is there just not enough time to take a step back and observe what you’ve done?

Schultheis: Generally, I don’t think any journalist should reflect too much on their work. They should just be good at their job. Especially in the tabloid media, it often seems that journalists have forgotten about standards of responsible reporting, or they have let these standards fall by the way side.

Independent journalism that’s critical of the media is becoming more and more important. Why? Because we are seeing more and more tabloid stories in online and mainstream media – mainly for financial reasons.

EJC:Do newspapers and magazine have to wise up even more in the age of online media?

Publishers and journalists need to rid themselves of outdated views on online journalism. There is no turning back for traditional print media. It just makes sense to go with the flow. Journalists should remember what they are good at and embrace new ways of reporting.

To put it bluntly: good quality journalism isn’t just good because it’s printed on a piece of paper.

 

Tags: astrid geisler, berliner zeitung, bildblog, book, christoph schultheis, cofounder, german, germany, martin steinmetz, npd, online journalism, politics, print media, right-wing, stefan niggemeyer,

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