Krautreporter (online edition)

The name of the online publication is based on associations. The word “Kraut” in the times of world wars was used in the English-speaking environment as a collective derogatory designation of German soldiers (the “Fritz”, etc.) can serve as the Russian equivalent ^[1] . The basis for such a designation is considered to be the stereotype of the Germans' love for sauerkraut (Sauerkraut, abbreviated as Kraut).

Journalists themselves explain the origin of the name differently, playing along with the similarity of the sound of the English word crowd (crowd) and German Kraut: “You are the crowd (Crowd), we are reporters. Together we are the Krautreporter ” ^[2] .

An advertising campaign to collect donations for the website was held in early 2014 under the slogan: “Online journalism has come to an end. We want to revive her " ^[3] . Journalists appealed to the fact that the rate at the speed of presenting information in online journalism leads to superficiality ^[4] , was not going to compete with daily publications ^[5] and promised to focus more on the desires of subscribers and less on the number of article views (the main indicator for online - publications).

In 2016, Sebastian Esser explained that journalists “never pretended to reinvent online journalism,” but were going to explore topics that had not yet been covered and to write high-quality analytical articles. With the help of an alternative financial model, the creators wanted to make the site independent of advertising or large publishing houses and to focus attention on the direct contact of readers with the authors ^[6] .

The Krautreporter was taken as a model for financing an economically and publicly successful project - the Dutch website De Correspondent, which was sponsored directly by readers and launched at the end of 2013. The publication specializes in investigative journalism and analytical materials.

Krautreporter, unlike many American crowdfunding projects (including Spot.us), which provide readers with the opportunity to pay for only selected material, looked for sponsors who were ready to finance the project entirely, and the uncertainty of the future Internet portal created certain difficulties ^[3] . To launch and maintain the site for one year, 15,000 subscribers and € 900,000 were required (that is, the annual subscription fee was € 60), the goal was achieved by June 13, 2014. By November 2014, the site had about 16,700 subscribers, by March 2015 - 18,000 ^[7] . At the moment, the question of renewing a subscription is relevant, and, according to editorial estimates, about half of readers agree with this (absolute values ​​are not disclosed). The publisher assesses this situation as “normal” ^[6] .

Since October 2015, articles on the site have become available only to subscribers and on a paid basis (with the possibility to donate material free of charge via email in the form of a real 48 hours link). The editors justified the changes with the requests of subscribers, as well as the desire to provide additional services: exclusive articles, audio, e-books, attendance at events ^[8] .

In 2016, the transformation of the Krautreporter into a partnership begins, for which it is planned to invest € 81,350. As of January 1, the number of joining depositors was 245 people ^[9] . To reduce losses from the excess expenses of the publication (€ 365,000) over incomes (€ 325,000), it is necessary that at least 400 people participate in a partnership formed with a minimum contribution of € 250. The economic plan involves reaching full payback by the third financial year ^[6] .

Krautreporter is positioning itself as a socio-political and economic publication that publishes "stories that have remained outside the news, leaving time for detailed, thorough and honest research" ^[10] . The publication does not adhere to a certain political ideology ^[11] .

Initially, the editors of the publication consisted of 25 people with part-time jobs (at least 1 article per week) and a salary of 2–2,5 thousand euros per month ^[12] , and later the number of employees increased.

Krautreporter essentially gives authors complete freedom to choose topics. In 2014, employees of the publication attributed their work to the following sections: society, food, science, sports, feminism and culture, New York and technology, popular and network culture, reportage from abroad, culture, politics, media, Hollywood and Silicone Valley, trade, Africa, masters of cinema and photography, IT and startups, defense policy and security policy ^[13] .

The work of the online edition is criticized in three main areas. Firstly, the predominance of the form over the content was repeatedly noted, as a result of which some journalists left the editorial office. The emphasis on testing a new business model often overlapped the lack of a common editorial idea: “We didn’t care much about what and how we wanted to write about” ^[14] . Sebastian Esser, on the contrary, calls the form the main competitive advantage of the publication, emphasizing the orientation on the subscribers' requests ^[15] .

Secondly, the lack of a specific thematic area or a certain range of topics gives rise to claims: serious political topics are not always adequately covered, while “materials on dog training, the situation of prostitutes in Johannesburg, a photographer working in prison and rollers of fat on the sides” are printed ^[16] . Stefan Niggemeier, who left the Krautreporter team in 2015, writes: “There is still no answer to what kind of materials [journalists] want and should write, and what articles readers can expect from us. We, the authors, and the readers, probably, also, lack something that would unite all the materials ” ^[17] .

The third group of criticisms is related to the method of payment for content, which is carried out only with a credit card ^[18] . It is noted that this automatically excludes or deters potential readers. In addition, the process is accompanied by redirection to the page of payment resources, the reason for which the site administration does not explain ^[13] . Former employees of the editorial staff point out malfunctions in the operation of equipment and proprietary software, the development of which went to the bulk of the funds raised ^{[19] [17]} . There are also claims to the minimalist design of the site, which equates to non-professionalism ^{[13] [19]} .

The Pew Research Center notes that journalists are increasingly seeking financial support for projects directly to readers: only on the Kickstarter crowdsourcing platform for the first 9 months of 2015, they raised more than $ 1.74 million ^[20] . Among similar German-speaking projects working on the crowdfunding system, we can distinguish the platforms “Correctiv” and “Deine Korrespondentin”. However, unlike the Krautreporter, they raise money for specific investigative material.

In France, since 2008, the Mediapart portal, founded by the former editor-in-chief of Le Monde Edvi Plenele, has been functioning, gathering more than 112,000 users ^[21] .

Readers finance such journalistic projects as the Daily Dish edition by Andrew Sullivan and the blogger-researcher Eliot Higgins (Bellingcat website) ^[22] .