Republic convinces 13,845 subscribers and narrowly misses last goal
The media project Republik has succeeded in winning people over with its concept: By Wednesday evening, it had attracted 13,845 subscribers and raised approximately 3.4 million francs, according to the project’s organizers.
The crowdfunding has ended and the initial goal has been far exceeded. The plan is to create an independent, digital magazine that focuses primarily on the classification of information. It was developed by Project R. It is due to be published for the first time at the beginning of 2018. The Republic is financed by readers, without advertising revenue. Anyone who pays 240 francs receives an annual subscription and becomes a member of the Project R cooperative.
The crew consists of around a dozen journalists, including Constantin Seibt and Christof Moser. The team also includes start-up, communication, organization and IT specialists.
To get off the ground, 3,000 subscribers and 750,000 francs were needed. This target was already reached on the afternoon of April 26, the first day of crowdfunding. This sum was a condition for investors to provide 3.5 million francs. The Meili brothers from Zurich are among the investors.
With the next self-imposed hurdle of 5,000 supporters, two training positions were created and, with 7,000 subscriptions, the editorial team was expanded by one person. In the meantime, the number of members means that four large and complex research projects can be financed each year and a budget can be set up for international authors.
Republik fell just short of the 14,000 subscriber threshold. The team had set this threshold in order to create the position of a data journalist. The team will now consider what needs to be done, according to the press release issued on Wednesday evening.
"Bon pour la tête"
A new online medium in French-speaking Switzerland is also seeking support through crowdfunding. The people behind "Bon pour la tête" include former journalists from the magazine L'Hebdo, which was discontinued last January. They do not yet have any investors behind them. However, with their crowdfunding launched on May 13, the media professionals also exceeded their target. So far, they can count on 1600 subscribers who have pledged over 200,000 francs - twice as much as their target for the period. "Bon pour la tête", an "unruly medium" according to its own slogan, is to be launched in June. The editorial team will initially work on a voluntary basis. The content will be provided by freelance journalists who will be paid per article. (SDA)
