The Journalism Value Loop

In this episode we talk to Catarina Carvalho, founder and editor-in-chief of Mensagem de Lisboa, a newsroom of local journalism that covers the city of Lisbon

The project was launched during the covid-19 pandemic, because a group of journalists felt that, even though the majority of Portuguese outlets is based in Lisbon, the stories that matter to the city were not being told. The news coverage was very institutional-based and left out most of the territory and its people.

So, with the help of a local business group, they started Mensagem de Lisboa, that had, at the time, a team of five full-time journalists and a lot of contributors.

In this interview we talk with Catarina Carvalho the importance of community engagement and how going besides journalism can help with that. We also discuss what it means to be independent.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore what success and sustainability looks like for European independent media today.

On today’s episode we sneak into The Bristol Cable, an independent media founded in 2014, in the city of Bristol, England. What started as a grassroots project, ran by volunteers, is now a ten-person horizontally managed newsroom. There are four full time reporters, people in charge of operations, tech, strategy, community events and social media. Recently a people and wellbeing lead joined the team. 

Besides the online edition, the Cable publishes a free quarterly print magazine with 30.000 copies. As a cooperative, it is owned by its 2500 members, paying, on average, nearly 5£ every month. And they have a say in the most structural decisions in the newsroom.

Listen to this episode to find out more about how their membership program grew and how the newsroom is horizontally managed through sociocracy principles.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore what success and sustainability looks like for European independent media today.

On today’s episode we will be talking to Tamás Bodoky, the editor-in-chief of Átlátszó, the first Hungarian investigative journalism nonprofit and watchdog NGO to promote transparency, accountability, and freedom of information in Hungary.

One of the things that make Átlátszó unique is that it focuses on local stories. It is also a hub for local activists, and they have a lot of experience in working with local journalists, going back to the local communities with their stories, and reaching out to people who are not typical readers of independent media.

Átlátszó was the first media outlet in Hungary to start a campaign for reader donations, and they are quite successful at it. At this point about half of your yearly income comes from micro donations – this is quite high compared to other, similar outlets in the region.

Listen to this episode to find out more about managing a newsroom that focuses on local stories, has a vibrant community, and successfully converts its popularity into reader donations.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore  what success and sustainability look like for European independent media today.

In today’s episode we’re talking about the Dublin Inquirer, a newsroom that covers the city of Dublin, a nearby county and both its local governments.

As of last year, 95% of its budget was secured by subscriptions, granting access to a weekly digital edition and a monthly print one. But to get there, the team tested multiple ideas – from a physical store to editorial services. And it’s still always running on a shoestring.

With a team of four full-time journalists, one part-time admin manager, and three freelancers, they recently had to make an important decision on how to grow.

In this interview we discuss the challenges small local newsrooms face to stay afloat, how community engagement works and how to actively involve communities in reporting.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. In each episode, we interview a manager or journalist from an independent newsroom in Europe. We talk about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore  what success and sustainability looks like for independent media today.

This podcast is brought to you by Reference, a self-organised network of 26 European independent news outlets, hosted by Arena for Journalism in Europe.

In this episode we talk to Diogo Cardoso and Sofia da Palma Rodrigues, the co-founders of Divergente, a digital magazine of narrative journalism. Divergente was created in 2014 with a focus on long-form multimedia journalism. For ten years, it has grown into a professionalized newsroom. This episode focuses on that path of growth and on how to stay true to the project while growing. It also delves into different revenue sources and the funding paths that are not worth taking.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference . We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore what success and sustainability looks like for European independent media today.

In this  episode we talk to Bram Souffreau, a co-founder and former journalist of Apache, who is now the operational manager. Apache started in 2009 by the will of a group of journalists affected by a restructuring of the media sector. It is an investigative journalism outlet that covers the Flemish region in Belgium. Apache started as a blog, and it grew into a professionalized newsroom. It works as a cooperative, that has around 2000 members. Besides the original investment made by the 2000 co-owners, Apache is mainly funded by subscriptions, with around 5000 subscribers for the website, and around 1.500 for the magazine.

Listen to this episode to find out more about community revenue from an outlet that gets most of its funding through subscriptions.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore  what success and sustainability looks like for European independent media today.

In the second episode, we talk with Szabolcs Panyi, a Hungarian investigative journalist working for Direkt36, a non-profit investigative journalism center that provides in-depth accountability reporting.

Several years ago, Szabolcs Panyi was the subject of surveillance by the Hungarian government. His phone number was found in a leaked database containing 50,000 phone numbers of people targeted by Pegasus, a powerful spyware tool that can be installed remotely, and access virtually everything on the target’s phone.

Pegasus was designed by an Israeli company called NSO Group with the purpose to to fight crime and terrorism. However, the leaked database shows that it was used for the surveillance of human rights activists, political dissidents, lawyers and journalists across the world.

Listen to the episode to find out more about how Szabolcs Panyi, and the Direkt36 editorial team is coping with the challenges of working as a journalist in Hungary.

The Loop is a Journalism Value project podcast, brought to you by Reference. We are interviewing the members of this network about key challenges for them, ranging from funding and business models, to community engagement and organizational structures, as we explore  what success and sustainability look like for European independent media today.

In the first episode, we talk to Zoltán Sipos, founder and editor-in-chief of Átlátszó Erdély.

In 2014, Zoltán Sipos was tired of trying to find a job in an environment where there isn’t a lot of room for independent journalism, so he created his own investigative journalism project. Atlátszo Érdély, meaning Transparent Transylvania, was born as the sister publication of the Hungarian outlet Atlátszo, and focuses on the issues of the Hungarian minority living in the Transylvania region, in Romania.

Thriving in an environment where people don’t know or feel the need for investigative journalism proved to be a challenge. In this episode, we delve into how Atlátszó Erdély found a way to “jump the fence and break the progressive bubble” of its early readers, to reach a wider audience.

Listen to the episode to find out more about Átlátszó Erdély’s struggles and accomplishments within its community.