The Takeaways:
- Forum.eu is a curated news platform that translates selected news articles across European publishers into readers’ own national languages by machine learning software.
- Publisher partners include El Mundo (ES), El Diario (ES), Frankfurter Allgemeine (DE), Diario de Noticias, ECO (both PT), Ethnos (GR), Rzeczpospolita (PL) with more publishers set to join.
- The platform is headquartered in Berlin, with editors based throughout Europe.
- The site includes interactive comment tools that aim to facilitate constructive and multilingual discussions.
- It is funded by subscription – for €4 ($4.50) a month, subscribers receive seven curated articles on Europe every day. Each article is selected by editors for their importance and relevance.
Why It Matters:
Forum.eu emerged as a reaction to a fast-growing frustration due to the lack of a common sphere in Europe accommodating high-quality and trustworthy news covering the continent. It is the first platform where European citizens can engage in debates, gain insights from differing opinions, and access a variety of regional perspectives.
Speaking to WNIP, Commercial Director Philipp Montgelas, said, “One of the core problems in Europe is communication. The idea was born to bring together high-quality media with high-quality articles on one platform and translate them into all European languages. We want to bring Europeans into a discussion without language barriers.”
A Polyglot News Platform
Editorial policy for selecting articles is guided by major debates rather than limiting itself to leading media outlets only. This ensures that the quality, relevance, and a variety of perspectives are maintained when curating content. Montgelas also noted that the forum would allow “access to analytical data on specific markets, topics, and user behavior and allow participating publishers to receive high-quality editorial translations of selected articles that they can republish.”
At the time of launch, English, German, French, Polish, Spanish and Greek were all available languages with the aim to have all European languages in the future.
