Pay for online content - but voluntarily

For some time now, Taz.de has been appealing to users: those who read online should also pay. "Just as much as our services are worth to them," writes the head of the online editorial team on the website. Readers can choose whether they want to pay for a specific article or for Taz.de as a whole - both on a voluntary basis. The online offer as such remains completely available. Although advertising revenue has increased, this is not enough. It would also be unwise to become too dependent on advertising. This raises the question of how to finance independent journalism.

However, the publisher, Tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft, does not want to know anything about payment barriers and justifies this as follows: People who buy a newspaper always pay for a collection of articles, and therefore also for a service that provides a clear overview of the events of an entire day. Online, on the other hand, a website presents a much more fleeting snippet of a day. Users rarely consume more than a few articles at a time. Readers are also increasingly accessing articles via Google, Twitter, Facebook or email. Such Internet kiosks are constantly attracting new attention and publicity. "But this only works as long as the articles are not hidden behind a paywall."

Taz is convinced that it will be able to successfully establish such a system. According to its own figures, it is already receiving around 1,700 euros a month in voluntary payments. And the new campaign aims to raise even more. Just under 2,000 euros were received at the start on Saturday. Another 1,000 were received on Sunday, with almost 600 readers having donated so far - contributions ranging from 30 cents to 300 euros.