''De Correspondent'' is a Dutch
news website
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
based in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
,
Netherlands
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. It was launched on 30 September 2013 after raising more than in a
crowdfunding campaign in eight days. The website distinguishes itself by rejecting the daily news cycle and focusing on in-depth and chronological coverage on a topical basis, led by individual correspondents who each focus on specific topics. Sometimes it publishes English versions of its articles.
The concept and initial success of ''De Correspondent'' has inspired other projects elsewhere. A German website ''
Krautreporter'' was founded in 2014 and adopted the same concept.
[
]
An English-language news site, titled ''The Correspondent'', launched on September 30, 2019.
[
English language version.
] The site raised through a crowdfunding campaign in late 2018, boosted by prominent backers including
Jay Rosen
Jay Rosen (born May 5, 1956) is a writer, and a professor of journalism at New York University. Rosen is a contributor to ''De Correspondent'' and a member of
the George Foster Peabody Awards board of directors.
Biography
Rosen has been on ...
and
Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah (born 20 February 1984) is a South African-born comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and former television host. He was the host of ''The Daily Show'', an American late-night talk show and satirical news progra ...
.
However, it endured substantial criticism after it was announced that it would not open an office in the United States, as many backers had anticipated.
On 10 December 2020, ''NiemanLab'' broke the news that ''The Correspondent'' would be closing down on 31 December 2020.
History
The project was co-founded by Dutch journalist Rob Wijnberg, creative director Harald Dunnink, CTO Sebastian Kersten, and publisher Ernst-Jan Pfauth. Wijnberg, former
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of the Dutch newspaper ''
NRC Next
''nrc•next'' () was a Dutch daily newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis. The first edition was released on 14 March 2006. It was stopped in March 2021. ''nrc•next'' was a morning edition tabloid, and its primary target group a ...
'', proposed the crowdfunding idea for an ad-free news media platform on national television in March 2013. Eight days later, he and his team reached their goal of 15,000 subscribers all paying €60 for a one-year membership.
Wijnberg worked with digital creative agency Momkai and its owners, Harald Dunnink and Sebastian Kersten, served as creative director and CTO respectively. Ernst-Jan Pfauth, who had been the founding editor of The Next Web and head of digital at Dutch newspaper ''
NRC Handelsblad'', joined as a publisher.
The website went live in September 2013. By January 2015 the website had more than 45,000 paying subscribers. In January 2016 the number of paying subscribers on the website was reported to be 50,000.
In 2014, ''De Correspondent'' concluded a deal with
Medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
’s magazine
''Matter'', for the magazine to translate stories from ''De Correspondent'' that they believe are relevant for an international audience. The first article in the partnership concerned the hazards of using
public Wi-Fi.
In 2015, ''De Correspondent'' started translating stories from Dutch to English.
In December 2018, an English-language
newsroom, ''The Correspondent'', reached its
crowdfunding goal of .
[
] The crowdfunding was enabled by a US$1.8 million "runway funding" by grants and loans from the
Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network is a self-styled " philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5billion to ...
, the Dutch Democracy and Media Foundation, and
Craig Newmark
Craig Alexander Newmark (born December 6, 1952) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the founder of the classifieds website Craigslist. Prior to founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for companie ...
Philanthropies. Its first news stories were published in September 2019.
On 31 December 2020, ''The Correspondent'' is due to shut down.
Pfauth and Whjnberg noted that the platform was no longer financially viable due to two primary reasons: poor conversion and retention of members, especially with only 27% of founding members renewed for the 2021 fiscal year, as well as readers' demand for more immediate news in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
that ran contrary to the outlet's concept of "unbreaking news".
Content
The website aims to move away from the daily news cycle by focusing on context, rather than what happened in the past 24 hours. Individual correspondents lead as "guides" — deciding the news agenda and making their choices explicit. ''De Correspondent'' intends its authors to report on under-reported themes including energy, privacy, technology, and future economic trends.
[
]
Technology
''De Correspondent'' runs on a
content management system (CMS) called Respondens. In several blog posts, the founders said that they might make Respondens available for other publishers in the future.
Criticism
At least one incident involving editorial integrity was pointed out by
Sarah Kendzior, a political journalist and one-time correspondent for ''De Correspondent''. In 2018, Kendzior expressed concern on Twitter that an editor at ''De Correspondent'' was refusing to review her draft articles due to
climate change denial. The outlet denied these allegations in a public letter on Twitter, as well as an accusation that they deleted Kendzior's articles as retaliation. However, Kendzior replied that their responses "grossly misrepresent" the "deep disagreement" behind this conflict.
The fundraising campaign for ''The Correspondent'' featured endorsements from political celebrities primarily based in the United States, including
Jimmy Wales,
DeRay McKesson, and
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, Johnny Cash's first wife. Although she is often classified as a country art ...
. As such, crowdfunding supporters as well as "ambassadors" including
Baratunde Thurston and
Nate Silver
Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball (see sabermetrics), basketball, and elections (see psephology). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''FiveThirtyEigh ...
noted an expectation that ''The Correspondent'' will launch as an outlet specifically focused on the United States. However, a progress update from the platform in April 2019 revealed that the platform did not intend to build a physical presence in the United States. Zainab Shah, a former strategy leader of
BuzzFeed who resigned from ''The Correspondent'' a month prior, claimed that the platform's decisions "was a betrayal" and criticized the fundraising drive for operating under a "false pretense".
The outlet tweeted on April 30, 2019
an unsigned letter that apologized for having "screwed up" its public launch. In it, ''The Correspondent'' noted that they "initially envisioned setting up a newsroom in the US" but "poorly communicated" changes in that vision to supporters and staff, and falsely represented the platform's vision as an American version of ''De Correspondent''.
See also
*
Crowdfunded journalism
*
Open-source journalism
*
Scientific journalism
Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public.
Origins
Modern science journalism dates back to '' Digdarshan'' (means showing the d ...
*
Wiki journalism
*
WikiTribune
References
External links
*
Official website (English)Website of the Respondens system
{{DEFAULTSORT:Correspondent, De
Online magazines
Dutch-language websites
Dutch news websites
Magazines established in 2013
Crowdfunded journalism
Magazines published in Amsterdam