A new co-op bringing together French publishers has raised over €400,000 from 1,400 members within the first two months of launching a call for finance.
Launched in October 2024, Coop-médias aims to raise €2-3m by September 2025, which member organisations will use to boost editorial innovations and broadcasting, structure investment and strengthen audiences.
Its members include exclusively digital titles, such sa Reporterre, Les Jours, Basta, StreetPress, Mediacités, Rue89 locaux and Vert le média; print publishers such as Politis, Fracas or L’âge de faire, and broadcasters such as radio le Moment and Web TV such as Blast and Le Média.
These reader-funded publishers do not depend on large groups and feature limited advertising. The majority of them are social and solidarity economy organisations or co-operatives, such as Politis, Fracas Magazine and Alternatives Économiques, or Liberación.
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CG Scop, the French apex for worker co-ops, says Coop-médias is an opportunity to strengthen press freedom and encourage democratic and sustainable economic models in the media industry. The apex has already allocated an initial €10,000 grant to the project, to get it off the ground and help founding members recruit people with the right skills to run it and it will give the co-op access to its network of co-ops and its expertise in co-operatives and fundraising.
Coop-médias is being set up as a collective interest co-operative society (Scic), a type of multi-stakeholder co-op whose members will include publications, individual citizens and SMEs.
The funding raised will be allocated after analysis, by an independent commitment committee in the process of being set up.
In addition to helping publishers deepen collaboration and access funding, Coop-médias will also perform lobbying and awareness-raising duties on behalf of its members.
As to the future, Coop-médias has set itself a long-term goal to raise €15 to 20m in funds to guarantee its members’ independence and enable them to resist the economic pressures of large groups. Individuals can buy a share in Coop-médias for €100, through which they become member owners of the co-op. This entitled them to taking part in the governance of the co-operative by voting at the general meeting, sitting on the board of directors and getting involved in its various activities across France.
