Behind the Scenes: Uniting for the Long Haul

JULY 2026 ISSUE

Uniting for the Long Haul

Hello, everyone,

Let's be honest: this week, we've rarely felt so supported. Almost everything revolved around community (and warmth).

We first spent three days in Paris with our partners and the news creators from our Sphera network, who had come from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, and Belgium. Then we reunited with our team—who had traveled from the Southwest, the Southeast, and Brittany—for a seminar. In between, we invited you to an evening event featuring a roundtable discussion with Contexte, ARTE, and StreetPress, where we unveiled a project that’s close to our hearts: the Club de Médianes.

A huge thank you to everyone who was able to join us! We’re leaving these days feeling a little lighter—and, above all, less alone. Because the same conviction kept coming up, time and again, from one encounter to the next: we move forward better—and farther—when we move forward together. That’s kind of the common thread running through this year’s event.

We also share our first case study on giving, an overview of the websites the studio has recently redesigned, and reveal more details about this club, which we’ll build together with you.

Enjoy the read, and have a wonderful summer,

MARINE DOUX, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MÉDIANES

Behind the Scenes

THE MÉDIANES CLUB: UNITING TO ENSURE OUR LONG-TERM FUTURE

Running an independent media outlet often means solving the same equation on your own: not enough time, a small team, a tight budget, expensive tools, and a community to keep engaged. What if we stopped each going our own way trying to reinvent the wheel?

The Club de Médianes is a space where we can come together, share our practices, pool our resources, and support one another in facing common challenges and questions. We see this every day working alongside the newsrooms we support: beyond strengthening their independence — economic, technological, editorial — the same issues keep coming up, from one newsroom to the next.

Because independence isn’t just a matter for individual newsrooms. It’s also built collectively, around the journalistic, ethical, and human values that already bring us together.

The Club will open this fall. Until then, we’re showcasing it in a dedicated section on our website, and there’s still work to be done: if you want to be a part of it, we’re counting on your feedback so we can build it together.

→ Help us build the Club!

From the media's perspective

OUR CASE STUDIES

Turn your readers into a community of donors

One million regular supporters for The Guardian, 36% of StreetPress’s revenue, 95% of Reporterre’s budget: donations aren’t limited to socially conscious or open-access media outlets. It’s a tool that can be adapted to a wide variety of business models, provided you know how to create the conditions to earn it.

Over the coming months, we will explore the practices of the independent European press through case studies: technological independence, business models, diversification of content, and more… For this first installment, we’ll focus on the strategies deployed by more than a dozen media outlets to strengthen their donor communities: highlighting their impact, financial transparency, emphasizing their values, and more.

→ This first part is available for free on our website.

Our approach

STUDIO NEWS

Websites that reflect the identity of each media outlet

Every media outlet has its own personality, its own audience, its own way of telling the world’s story—and its website should reflect that. This is the common thread that runs through all the projects the studio works on, and it’s something we’d like to share with you.

Six years after its launch, Vert needed a website that was as demanding in terms of content as it was in terms of design. Le Cri, a brand-new media outlet, had to build everything from scratch in just a few months. La Revue K. sought to showcase its multilingual archives, and 60 Millions de Consommateurs aimed to improve the readability and conversion rate of its content.

In recent months, we’ve also designed custom campaign pages: more than 500 pre-orders for Koï Europe and nearly 1,000 new subscribers for Socialter. And because we love to innovate, we built Socle, so we can publish independently without relying on a closed platform.

→ To learn more about these projects and our expertise, visit our website.

To go further

• The studio is working with Cara, a think tank led by Mélina Magdelénat, the first project to adopt Socle: Médianes' turnkey solution for publishing, distributing, and monetizing content without relying on a closed platform… for €850.

• And for projects on a larger scale, here’s some good news: the Strategic Fund for Press Development (FSDP) is reopening its application window through July 31. This is a valuable resource for financing larger-scale projects, and we can help you prepare your application. Want to discuss this? Let’s set up a meeting!

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THAT WAY, YOU'LL KNOW

→ A wonderful recognition for our team

Médianes is the recipient of the IfcicEntreprendre in Culture Award, presented by the Institute for the Financing of Cinema and Cultural Industries and the Ministry of Culture.

→ Médianes on the air

In June, our reporter Owen Huchon was a guest on the EMIsphère program, which was recorded live at a media library in Caen: the challenges facing journalism, independent media outlets that are breaking new ground, and ways to support them. Listen online.

→ Mark your calendars

The Sphera Media Lab returns to Brussels on December 3. A day to collectively explore how independent media organizations strengthen their practices, build their communities, and defend their freedoms.

→ Welcome to Micro Canap’ and Forêt.Nature

Médianes is supporting two new projects: Micro Canap’, a local media outlet based in Poitiers that completed the “Créer un Média” training program, and Forêt.Nature, a Belgian nonprofit dedicated to forest conservation.

→ The "Arrêt sur images" Book Club

Our reporter Owen Huchon spoke with the editorial staff of the online media outlet to discuss the details and goals of their new book club, co-organized with videographer Margorito. Beyond the editorial aspect, the project addresses a variety of the media outlet’s needs.

Médianes

We are a media outlet, a studio, and a network dedicated to independent journalism.