Journalism goes start-up

In Düsseldorf, journalists are setting out to finance a news portal with the help of a crowdfunding campaign. They are not the only ones. If such projects succeed in the long term, it would be a great sign for the industry, which is often considered dusty.

Hans Onkelbach, Christian Herrendorf, Andreas Endermann and Boris Bartels still have some time to raise enough money for their new project. They have already raised just over 29,500 euros via Startnext by mid-April. The aim is to raise 40,000 euros by May 10 so that they can get started. If things continue at the current pace, the founders of "VierNull" should easily reach their goal.

The campaign is just the beginning of a big goal: they want to offer a new kind of journalism for Düsseldorf. After all, reporting in the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia has long been dominated by a single publisher. Düsseldorf is the undisputed territory of the Rheinische Post (RP). Although there is still a tabloid newspaper belonging to the Dumont publishing house, the Express, and BILD also reports on Düsseldorf, the Neue Rhein Zeitung (NRZ) and Westdeutsche Zeitung (WZ), which are also published in the state capital, have long been supplied with their material by the RP.

RUMS, KATAPULT, VierNull: they all want to turn local journalism on its head

The founders of VierNull are not the only ones to have discovered crowdfunding as a method of financing journalism. In Münster, for example, the magazine RUMS has been launched and the magazine KATAPULT is currently working on a regional edition for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. There are only three regional newspapers in this federal state, and they have precisely defined their territories. Like VierNull in Düsseldorf, KATAPULT wants to expand the media landscape. The magazine has already raised over 26,000 euros. If it reaches the 57,000 euro mark, it also wants to set up its own local editions in small towns.

VierNull, on the other hand, is only concentrating on Düsseldorf. "We want to strengthen the diversity of opinion in our city," says founder and photographer Andreas Endermann. To achieve this, they want to approach their business differently to most traditional local newspapers. "In recent years, local journalism has become less and less fun, you just rush from appointment to appointment and no longer have time to get to the bottom of things."

VierNull wants to offer well-rested stories, topics that require lengthy research. They don't want to offer the classic day-to-day business with lots of small reports on accidents or other local events. They are planning one or two major stories per day for the time being. In addition, there will be a newsletter and a short evening overview of the day's news. They have already published the first large text of this kind on their website in order to convince even more Düsseldorfers of their project. It is a story about life and death, a Düsseldorf woman's fight against a bone marrow disease and her husband's battle against cancer.

"We want to strengthen the diversity of opinion in our city"

VierNull founder and photographer Andreas Endermann

What VierNull is up to sounds like something many journalists probably dream of: after all, it rarely works out with the time planning for long investigations, especially in the local area. But there are reasons why this rarely works: The financial pressure that publishers are under is high. Fewer and fewer editors have to fill several pages every day. As a result, the focus is often on quantity rather than quality. The VierNull project in the state capital could therefore show that things can be done differently - and earn money in the process.

"Many print media fail to transfer their subscription models to digital," believes photographer and co-founder Andreas Endermann. But VierNull doesn't really want to do things any differently. Various subscriptions are also planned, whether monthly or annual. An annual membership costs 96 euros, a monthly subscription eight euros. If you want, you can also pay more as a sponsor. In order to retain readers, the founders want to communicate more with their community. However, it is not yet clear what exactly this should look like. There are role models. The online magazine Krautreporter, for example, which is also crowdfunded, regularly asks its readers which stories the journalists should research next. This could also be a way forward for VierNull. But is that enough innovation for a local magazine?

VierNull wants to reinvest all the money it earns

At least Endermann is not worried about demand. According to a specially commissioned market study, over 50 percent of those surveyed could imagine paying for the magazine, says Endermann. They want to fully reinvest all the money they earn, for example to finance more authors or perhaps to focus on video and podcast formats in the future.

"We are not personally financially dependent on the project, but we are aiming to make VierNull profitable in the near future," says Endermann. This at least gives the founders time to continue building up their start-up. However, the four cannot imagine an investor getting involved. They also rule out traditional advertising. "We are focusing on healthy growth; we don't want large external investors in order to maintain our independence," says Endermann.