With the idea that information is a common good, the online newspaper News News has chosen, since 2018, to rely solely on donations from its readers. Four years later, “Getting this resource is still cumbersome, but it worked and made it possible to finance a salary and a half and the work of the three freelancers”, testifies Isabelle Germain, the founder of this media which deals with the news through the filter of gender equality. Without shareholder, without publicity and in free access, the site Reporterre, dedicated to ecology, derives 97% of its income from the generosity of more than 13,000 donors. Asking for help from his followers? Calls from the digital press have given new impetus to this old habit of the militant press, which many newspapers have also resorted to in the past to stay afloat in difficult times or to launch a project. The Covid-19 crisis has amplified the phenomenon.
“There has been an awareness of the value of independent information online during this crisis where a lot of untruths have circulated”, estimates Anne-Claire Marquet, director of the Syndicate of the independent press of information on line (Spiil), at the origin of the creation of I like the info. This association “carrying out concrete actions in favor of press pluralism”, which handles the collection and tax exemption of donations for a hundred online titles, has seen its total collection double in the space of two years. This jumped from 1.8 million in 2019 to 3.7 million euros in 2021.
Among the beneficiaries, only a handful can claim to live from this single resource, we specify at Spiil, the vast majority combining it with subscriptions, training offers or other forms of citizen support, including funding. participatory. The trend nevertheless consolidated last year. The sums transiting by I like the info increased further by 15% to 20% in 2022 compared to 2021, crossing the bar of 4 million euros. An amount now higher than the donations collected for the media “historical” by its alter ego Presse et pluralisme, an association created at the end of 2007 by all the professional associations of the written press.
Very committed bodies
“Dwelling at home during the pandemic has prompted a turn to Internet news sites, whose business model relies heavily on reader support”, confirms François d’Orcival, the president of Press and pluralism. Hence the sharp decline recorded in the accounts of this structure since 2019. Divided between 62 print media titles, total donations amounted to 2.5 million euros in 2021, down 19% on a year. We are far from the 2015 record (7.4 million euros), the year of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. Presse et pluralisme had then succeeded in bringing together more than 2 million in a few days to allow the satirical newspaper to publish its historic issue of January 14, 2015. After this peak of solidarity, “ the level had normalized around 3 to 4 million euros per year”, says François d’Orcival.
You have 14.61% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.