The German Newspaper Saved by Its Readers

By: Patrick Kingsley | The Guardian

To paywall or not to paywall: it's a question that plagues the media. At its heart is a debate about whether your readers are your customers – or your product, to be sold to advertisers.

At Die Tageszeitung, a newspaper based in Berlin, they look at it differently. Its readers are its owners. Quite literally, in fact. Taz – as the paper is nicknamed – is owned by a co-operative of 12,000 readers.