BusinessWeek editor had to ‘bribe’ reporters to respond to article comments

If BusinessWeek and its 200 editorial staffers want to compete with Dow Jones’ 2,000-plus journalists then it has to engage with readers, said BusinessWeek executive editor John Byrnes. That was easier said than done, he told a MediaBistro audience. He had to “bribe” journalists to engage in online conversations about their stories. If they didn’t engage, their articles fell off the homepage. It worked, he said.