Print with a purpose: zebra. street newspaper’s unique approach to empowering the marginalised

zebra. is a monthly non-profit street newspaper in South Tyrol that helps marginalised people earn a living by recruiting them to distribute copies. Despite being a social project, it boasts 10,000 readers and makes revenue purely through the sales of its newspaper. The Fix spoke to zebra.’s editor Alessio Giordano to learn how this street newspaper is surviving in a market where the sales of newspapers are declining. 

Who is zebra.?

The Organisation für Eine solidarische Welt (OEW) was founded in 1990 in Brixen, South Tyrol, Italy. This non-profit organisation focuses on education, fair trade, international cooperation and diversity. In 2014 they started zebra. Published in Italian and German, this bilingual newspaper provides inspiring and positive stories with a constructive and critical lens by collaborating with freelancers of their region.

They sell this paper on the streets of South Tyrol with the help of their vendors. These are marginalised people who are facing financial difficulties. The name ‘zebra’ is in reference to zebra crossings. Not only are zebra crossings found on the street, but they also reflect the newspaper’s desire to be the path that helps the vendors cross from financial difficulty to a financial safety net. 

This street newspaper started with 5000 copies. Back then they had 20 vendors and it would take them 2 days to sell all the copies. The team at zebra. recruited vendors from social projects for the homeless. After recruitment, the vendors were given a stamped ID by the OEW to authenticate them to potential buyers.

zebra. has never advertised themselves. They gained their following by connecting with other organisations and partnering with schools. The average age of their readers is 50. Their collaboration with schools helps them attract the younger demographic. In September 2022, they had a special edition in collaboration with the Faculty of Design and Art of the University of Bolzano.

The organisation publishes 10 editions annually. Today zebra. boost 60 vendors in their groups of which 52 are active. They sell around 9000 to 10,000 copies of every edition (compared to 12,000 to 13,000 copies of every edition before the pandemic). 

Financial model

A zebra. newspaper sells at €3. The vendors buy these copies from zebra. at €1.50 per piece. The profit on the selling price, €1.50, remains with the seller. Giordano says, “Graphics and printing cost of one zebra. newspaper is more or less 50 cents. The rest covers the salaries of our team and the payment to our freelance contributors.”

The cost for their social work team, the one who recruits the vendors, is met by seeking funds. Giordano adds, “Last year our social work team took part in the European Social Fund with which their costs are covered. That project finished in June of 2023 and will restart (probably) in a couple of months. During this year-long gap, the social workers’ costs were covered by the income of the paper.”

Social impact

People of South Tyrol who buy zebra. newspaper do it with the commitment to help those who are struggling. Giordano emphasises the role their community plays in encouraging the survival of not only the newspaper but what it stands for. During the lockdown, when the vendors couldn’t earn by selling the newspaper, zebra. decided to run a campaign to help them. Many community members came forward and paid the organisation so that the vendors could survive financially.

Giordano recalls an incident where people donated money and requested the amount to go to the vendor from whom they always bought their newspaper. This helped zebra. to get the vendors 80% of their earnings pre-lockdown. 

With print sales plummeting globally, zebra. too has thought of how they could go digital. Going digital is particularly hard for them as it would lose the transaction between the vendor and the seller. Alessio says, “Our essence is the vendor selling the paper and without them, there will be no zebra.” 

Source of the cover photo: Anna Mayr

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