Keeping an eye on the others

Positive reactions have been received from "opinion leaders" - politicians, media people, teachers, cultural workers. However, the level of awareness among a wider audience still "leaves a lot to be desired", said Urs P. Gasche when asked by Werbewoche. Infosperber currently has around 180,000 page impressions per month. Not enough, says Gasche. But to increase awareness, the non-profit platform lacks a marketing budget.

Financing the website, which is based on the Swiss Foundation for the Promotion of Independent Information SSUI - itself dependent on contributions from organizations and donations from platform users - is also proving difficult. Banner income and donations will be sufficient to cover the website's operating costs for 2012, explains Gasche. However, they are hoping for generous donors. The income is not enough to pay for expenses and the rights of use of the writers. The dozen regular writers - three quarters of them aged 65+ and a quarter aged between 40 and 65 - also work on a voluntary basis.

Mutual criticism

The authors' declared aim is to focus on facts and opinions and to offer a platform for topics that they feel are neglected in the mainstream media - not as competition, but as a complement to other media. On average, users find three new articles per day on the website. The main topics include fundamental issues relating to democracy, the power of the economy, the basic rights of life, gender equality and energy and transport policy. The focus is also on topics such as social policy, migration and growth and health policy.

Media criticism, which in the opinion of the authors is neglected in the media, is also cultivated. Other platforms almost never deal with individual programs or articles, but leave it at general criticism. Infosperber, on the other hand, also criticizes specific television programmes or newspaper articles. As an example, the former editor-in-chief of the Berner Zeitung cites one of his Article on an "Arena" program of Swiss television, in which he proposes that television should carry out a fact check on the Internet the day after each program, i.e. check the claims and arguments made in the program for their truthfulness. This mutual "newspaper criticism" was common practice in the past, when the publishing industry was not yet an oligopoly, Gasche continues. "Today, the individual newspapers and newspapers/television/radio hardly look each other in the eye anymore".

Promotion instead of money

In order to promote independent journalism in Switzerland and raise awareness of the non-profit platform, Infosperber texts may be redistributed free of charge with references. In addition, there are cooperations with newspapers such as Tageswoche, Domainepublic.ch, a weekly newspaper from French-speaking Switzerland, and the free newspaper 20 Minuten online. The use of articles is either reciprocal or there are special agreements regarding promotional references - the platform does not receive any money for articles. If, for example 20 minutes If you publish an article online, a large promotional box appears next to the text with a link to Infosperber and a few links to various articles.

Gasche is satisfied with the arrangement. Cooperation with existing partners and related portals will be intensified in the new year. Cooperation with foreign portals will also be expanded. We need to network internationally, says Gasche. As examples, he cites the Huffington Post and the French Mediapart.fr, an Internet newspaper that is financed exclusively by subscription income. Another well-known representative is the US organization ProPublica.org, which finances extensive investigative research with sponsorship and was even awarded the Pulitzer Prize for its reports in 2010 and 2011. However, Gasche describes both paid and sponsorship models as less promising for the Swiss-German "mini-market".

Infosperber is also planning to strengthen its staff. The Valais research journalist Kurt Marti, long-time editor of "Rote Anneliese", is joining the editorial team. While it is mainly "veteran journalists" who currently write for the platform, Infosperber is hoping that younger writers will soon join. Once sufficient donations or banner income have been generated, the foundation has the declared intention of financially supporting independent journalism, especially by younger professionals, says Gasche, who is also President of the Foundation Board.

Isabel Imper