"The media industry should pay much more attention to Tsüri as a new form of journalism"

The Zurich city magazine Tsüri was founded in January 2015 by a group of young journalists. The self-declared goal: to provide critical, committed and independent journalism for Zurich residents. Roland Wagner (53) has been Managing Director of Tsüri since June 2018. He brings an outside perspective to the media start-up, having previously worked as an IBM manager, top swimmer and member of the management board of the Swiss Federation of the Deaf.

Werbewoche: Tsüri has recently expanded its team - for example, you yourself are now on board as Managing Director. How does Tsüri manage to do what other media companies that are downsizing or even closing editorial offices often only dream of at the moment?

Roland Wagner: The big difference is that Tsüri is a grassroots movement. Almost four years ago, four colleagues founded Tsüri as a blog with a small starting capital of a few thousand francs. Tsüri is growing slowly from the bottom up. A lot of it is learning by doing. Even when employees leave, they remain connected to Tsüri. This enthusiasm that emanates from the project encourages members to support us - and recently also investors.

Tsüri is growing slowly from the bottom up. A lot of it is learning by doing.

What does Tsüri want to achieve?

Our vision is for Tsüri to merge with the city. Our writing style and content are aimed at 20 to 40-year-olds. It is important to us that we are close to our readers. Anyone who wants to can interact with us. But you can also read Tsüri passively and free of charge.

How do you divide up your work in the new line-up?

It is important to understand that we work separately in two vessels: On the one hand, there is the public limited company. Here, co-founder Simon Jacoby is the strategic director, I am the managing director, the community manager and the co-editor-in-chief are permanently employed. We take care of the further development of the website, the social media channels and the brand as well as the marketing of the content. We are also responsible for the positioning of Tsüri and the member strategy. On the other hand, there is an association that brings together 20 to 30 freelance journalists. The association is now also responsible for sustainable fundraising. The editor-in-chief is the link between the association and the AG.

Why are freelancers organized in an association?

On the one hand, this is historical: The association was there first. However, when it was realized that it was not possible to develop quickly in a grassroots democratic association, the AG was founded. The association was left in place in order to create independence between publishing house management and journalists. The advantage is also that the freelancers work with more enthusiasm than employees because they have more autonomy. The long-term goal is for the editorial team to also belong to the association.

Do you pay the freelancers according to standard industry rates?

We certainly pay at the lower end of the scale. We have the bonus that many journalists are very happy to write for us because Tsüri is a special medium and offers a lot of freedom. However, we still have the difficulty that many move on after a while. We hope that we will be able to keep the team together better as soon as we become more solvent. What is special is that the AG pays the association a monthly sum, which is broken down between the authors according to a rating system. The ratings of the members of Tsüri, the rating of the editor-in-chief and the rating of an association committee each contribute one third. This means that the amount paid out varies depending on the article. However, the differences are not huge, as the total amount is not large.

We certainly pay at the lower end.

Do you cover your costs?

This is the aim of the business plan that was drawn up with the capital increase in spring 2018 and which we are currently reviewing. We made a loss in the first six months of 2018. Our goal is to be in the black in a year and a half with the new team. However, I have the feeling that we will achieve this by the beginning of 2019. It should be noted that we pay ourselves below-average salaries and work on our own laptops. We are living the start-up groove.

What is the main reason why the business plan seems to be working so well?

The project would have worked well financially from the start, but it didn't have enough resources. Two people simply can't be editor-in-chief, sell advertising, develop the platform, look for investors and manage members at the same time. In the meantime, however, each of us has a position with a clear area of responsibility so that we can work professionally. We are not reinventing the wheel, but are now implementing the strategy from the beginning in a professional manner.

I have a feeling that we will be in the black by the beginning of 2019.

What does the Tsüri financing model look like?

This is broadly based: On the one hand, we finance ourselves through membership fees, which cost 60, 120 or 180 francs a year, depending on the benefits. We also receive income from promotional items from companies. They cost 1,500 francs and are clearly marked. We also receive foundation contributions to promote journalism. Last but not least, we place banner ads.

You often hear that you can't earn enough with banner advertising ...

We place user-oriented advertising from music labels, cultural events and publishers - this really suits the target audience and benefits both advertisers and readers.

How difficult is it to attract new members?

Many media have the problem that readers are not willing to pay for online journalism. In our experience, many people are very willing to support young, local and innovative journalism with their contributions. We also give members free entry to Tsüri parties and they receive a curated event newsletter. We currently have 850 members and the number is growing. However, we have only been able to attract a small proportion of our community as paying members - we have 40,000 unique monthly visitors, 25,000 Facebook likes and 12,000 Instagram followers.

Tsüri's latest project, Civic Media, with which you want to strengthen the exchange between the editorial team and the community, is exciting. How did the first round with the topic "Smart Tsüri" go?

Civic Media offers us an additional financial foothold and has gone incredibly well. We are already over budget for the second round with the sponsorship income.

And how was the "Smart Tsüri" theme month received by users?

We have published around 25 articles on the topic of Smart City, which were only moderately read. The topic is much more technical than "The ten best pizzerias in Zurich". But the events that offer a personal exchange have worked extremely well. Workshops with experts were best received. There, people were able to take an in-depth look at the topic of urban development, for example.

What's next for Civic Media?

In November, we are planning a themed month on addiction. We are organizing participatory events that are very accessible. The plan is to set up a theme like this once a quarter. The project should be more than just a media event. We want to stimulate social discussions and help shape sustainable products. In this way, we want to reinvent local journalism.

What do you think - with this success behind it - could be a way for journalism to survive in the future?

Enormous technological changes are currently taking place that are influencing society and journalism. Some media companies have reacted to this in the wrong way. At the moment, it looks like things are going downhill. But I can't imagine that society will do without journalism. I believe in the system's ability to learn. But it's too early to say what the path will look like. With Tsüri, we now have a kind of experimental field: we can tweak things to find a solution on a small scale. The media industry should therefore pay much more attention to Tsüri as a new form of journalism.

Interview: Ann-Kathrin Kübler