After the group that owned half of Quebec’s daily newspapers went bust, Canada’s Le Soleil newspaper was part of a group that created Canada’s largest newsroom cooperative, counting on the support of their readers and their own staff to ensure their survival. One year on, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they are thriving.
Predictions are a tricky business, but there is one sure thing for 2020: local news publishers cannot depend on the old ways of doing business. Mark Glaser, a media consultant and advisor, shares five interesting business models that are cropping up, from the co-op ownership model to government subsidies and “information districts,” to state-level ecosystem support.
Berlin-based daily Tageszeitung (Taz for short) is a reader-supported newspaper where a 500 euro membership doesn’t even get you a free subscription. Yet more than 17,000 people have joined the Taz news cooperative in Germany on exactly those terms.
