No paywall, no problem: how taz, a Berlin daily, successfully sticks to readers’ voluntary contributions

“Free access to information is essential for a democratic society”, says Aline Lüllmann, CEO of the Berlin-based daily taz. die tageszeitung. In times of war, social and economic crises, rampant disinformation, and tech giants pulling the plug on fact-checking programs, her words couldn’t ring more true. Yet, in this dystopian media landscape, taz has seemingly carved out something close to a news utopia and takes a radically different approach: It trusts its digital readers to pay voluntarily – no paywall, no restrictions, “taz I pay” (German: “taz zahl ich”). And so far, 42,000 readers have committed and stepped up, many of them supporting taz since voluntary contributions began in 2011. 

The average contribution size is six euros per month, but there’s others who give 150 euros on a monthly or yearly basis. This is how community is fostered, Lüllmann reckons: “We know our contributors very well. The taz team calls them regularly, they’re getting newsletters and are being invited to many events.” This has brought in around three million annually, accounting for nine percent of their total revenue.

“We could not imagine introducing a paywall and economically we don’t have to”, adds taz’s editor-in-chief Barbara Junge. While the leading team doesn’t approve of the fact that more and more other media are raising paywalls, they also recognise that the competitors’ prices are approaching what their readers are willing to pay voluntarily. The New York Times for example offers a subscription for its European readers at eight euros a month, while German Spiegel Online prices its digital subscription model at six euros per week. But don’t be mistaken: taz’s regular voluntary contributors aren’t its subscribers. The left-wing paper relies on multiple revenue sources. Digital subscribers pay for access to a PDF version of the print edition, while voluntary contributors simply read the same online articles available to all and choose to donate to support the paper.

If you have less, you give less

“Our information stands out from others and it’s therefore all the more important that it’s freely accessible”, says Lüllmann, emphasizing taz’s left-leaning perspective and its commitment to transformative reporting. This journalism is also reflected in the character of their readers and contributors, who pay not only for themselves, but also for others who have less – always promoting the solidarity motive of the newspaper on which it was founded.

Established in 1978 as a grassroots alternative to mainstream media, taz. die tageszeitung has always been politically independent and collectively minded. In 1992, it took a radical step to secure its future by becoming a cooperative, owned by its readers and supporters. Today, 24,000 members ensure taz remains ad-free and financially independent, with each member having an equal vote – no big investors, no corporate influence. Becoming a cooperative member requires a one-time share purchase starting at 500 euros. Each member, regardless of contribution size, gets one vote in key decisions about the newspaper’s future.

Print and digital subscriptions are another revenue source and “solidary motive”, deeply ingrained in the paper’s history and identity, also carries across the pricing. Always driven by the idea that if you have less, you give less, because others will step up and make up for it with a larger contribution. Hence the “political price” as taz calls it stands at 62.90 euros per month while you can also sign up for a reduced fee of 41.80 euros without providing bank statements. Print subscriptions account for for 67 percent of total revenue, roughly 23 million euros.

Keeping a newspaper afloat, navigating a media crisis, and paying fair salaries to 300 permanent employees is no small feat, especially for taz. “It’s not easy to afford an apartment in Berlin on our salary”, Junge admits.

“Of course that’s not the norm but we do hear from some subscribers that they don’t even read us but continue to pay so others can and because they find it important that we exist”, says Junge, who co-leads the editorial team since 2020. 

Connecting generations to invest in the future

One small dent in taz’ utopia is that, like anyone else, their supporters are aging. Their average print reader is nearly 65 years old, so are their cooperative members. Even though their voluntary contributors are about ten years younger on average, the really young generations – we’re talking Gen Z and younger Millennials – haven’t taken enough interest into paying for quality news yet. 

“We recognise this and are running our first big cooperative campaign this year aiming to connect generations”, Lüllmann announces. The idea is that older cooperative members are buying shares for younger readers who would then also be able to participate in voting for the publication’s future. “When they turn 30 we will ask them if they want to take over the share and continue contributing”, Junge adds. Parents and grandparents can also gift younger family members shares and there’s an option to pay off the 500 euros in installments.

Be a love brand

Nevertheless, veteran journalist Junge concedes, it is also the forms of produced journalism which have to be reevaluated to attract future generations: paperwise taz added a new “future” section to their weekly with constructive journalism at its heart, focused on “climate, science and utopia” in 2022. In 2019 they had already started a climate offensive to focus on young people’s concerns and livelihoods. The paper is also ramping up its presence on social media and invests in video content. Like this they have already been able to make significant gains, Junge says: “Two thirds of the people signing up for a subscription through socials used to come from our Facebook page, which is mostly used by an older age group. Now we see significantly more signups through Instagram which makes us think these readers are younger.” After the German election which saw significant gains for far-right extremist and conservative parties, taz offered subscriptions at ten euros for ten weeks. “Compared to the same months last year our share of readers in the age group 25 to 34 years of age doubled from ten to 19 percent”, Lüllmann proudly announces. 

All the more reason for Junge and Lüllmann to stick with their voluntary and solidary model and push bold changes because according to them, the paper has never been as successful as in the past three years. Taz will seize its daily print operations starting in October, only offering digital subscriptions to the daily paper and a weekly print edition – although this might cost them up to 18 percent of current subscribers as surveys have shown. And: the paper’s income still heavily relies on print, accounting for more than two thirds of total revenue. “For some older readers it’s really hard to change habits”, explains Lüllmann, who will soon depart on a national tour together with Junge and basically the whole editorial staff in turns to assist people in making this switch they call the “page turn” (German: “Seitenwende”). The decision to deprioritise print was made because of rising shipping costs but made possible by voluntary contributions. 

But could this model work for other media with a different founding history? “Even though we can be a tough read, it is still a love brand – if you’ve been with for us a while, you definitely have strong feelings towards the paper and I would say that’s necessary for the model to work – even if your paper’s DNA isn’t inherently left-wing”, the CEO summarises. In the past there have been talks with The Guardian, which has adopted the same strategy since 2016. Yet, taz remains unique in how deeply its readers are embedded in its funding model – not just through voluntary contributions, but also as cooperative members who help shape its future.

On the cover photo: taz, photo by Karsten Thielker

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