🔶 News Alchemists #58: Wait, is journalism in Europe actually thriving?
Hello, and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!
And a first welcome to new subscribers from The Initium, MediaVoices, Louisville Public Media, The Outlier, Block Club Chicago, Centella, News Relay Network, ICFJ, Tiny News Collective, Keskisuomalainen, Flipping Pages Media, Reynolds Journalism Institute, ATEX, A Growing Culture, University of Canterbury, and all of you brave souls working independently.
⚠️ Last week marked another important "milestone" in the growth of this newsletter: for the first time I skipped an edition without informing you in advance. The reason? I got sick and just didn't manage to finish it in time 🤷♂️ A good reminder that as much as I like to talk about the importance of showing up consistently, #lifehappens.
But I'm back, and today I want to talk about journalism in Europe 🇪🇺 – as defined by geography, not by EU membership or by Brexit. I've been planning this edition for a while, and it means a lot to me. Here's why:
I’m an Italian person living in London, but in my mind neither of those things define me because, above all, I feel European.
I grew up in Italy 🇮🇹, I studied and worked in France 🇫🇷 and the Netherlands 🇳🇱, my fiancée is from Romania 🇷🇴, and my first real job was at the European Journalism Centre. There I worked with journalists from all over the continent, organising events and training sessions in 16 cities across 11 European countries over three years.
Europe is my playground. Over the years I've met crazy talented people who work tirelessly to make journalism more useful, interesting, and relevant. I’m lucky to say that many of them are reading these words right now.
For a long time, it was literally my job to support and celebrate the best of the best in European journalism. I miss that.
So today I want to celebrate the many European organisations that embody people-centricity in everything they do, proving that a sustainable future for journalism is not a dream. It already exists.
📚 Today’s links are about some of them – seven links about European organisations doing cool shit that makes me hopeful. (And these are only from the last couple of months.)
And speaking of people-centricity, this week's generous sponsor, PushPushGo, is hosting a webinar on how publishers can build stronger reader habits:
How do you move readers from social media to your own platform – and keep them coming back?
Relying on social media algorithms to reach your audience is a bit like building a house on rented land. Many publishers are realising that the only way to ensure long-term stability is to own the relationship directly.
So if you’re looking to create a strong community around your newsroom, PushPushGo and Contribly are hosting a webinar that will showcase results and strategies from what they’ve learnt working with publishers across Europe and the US. Join next March 25th at 2pm CET.
See you next week! 👋
P.S.: I'd love to do similar editions about different regions of the world. Do you want to recommend organisations from Latin America, Africa, and Asia that I should spotlight? Send them my way.
1. Last year was the fastest year of growth for the Kyiv Independent community. 👉 LINK
The 🧩 Kyiv Independent started 2025 with 14,000 paying members. By the end of the year they had 25,000. Today: 27,000.
In this post, COO 🧞Zakhar Protsiuk shares some of the key reasons behind such a resounding success: strong journalism and an even stronger team; one shared focus the entire organisation got behind; innovation in community management and growth tactics; and two major membership campaigns.
2. The Mill Media’s simple bet: Readers pay for quality 👉 LINK
The simple bet that led 🧞Joshi Herrmann to launch The Mill in 2020: people would pay for proper local journalism... if you actually gave them proper local journalism. Six years later, the bet paid off. 🧩 Mill Media now operates local titles in six cities across the UK – and another one is on the way – with 13,000 paying subscribers providing about 95% of the revenue.
Read this interview to find out more about Mill Media's path to success, and how they pick which cities to launch in. (Spoiler: talent and vision over market analysis.)
3. Denník N goes to Brussels: why the Slovak daily acquired EUobserver 👉 LINK
Two weeks ago, Slovakia’s leading independent publisher 🧩 Denník N made waves by acquiring Brussels-based publication EUobserver – a rare occasion in which a Central European outlet bought a Western European one. A few years ago, Denník N also created a sister company in Czechia (with the same name but one less 'n').
In this insightful interview, Denník N’s co-founder, and now EUobserver’s CEO, 🧞Tomáš Bella explains the process that led to the acquisition, the differences between running a commercial and a nonprofit company, and his vision for how the two outlets will benefit one another.
4. Distinctive and engaging – Zetland hoping to hit the right tone with its expansion strategy 👉 LINK
🧩 Zetland has 40,000 paying members in Denmark; they launched a sister company in Finland in 2025, 🧩 Uusi Juttu; and after another successful crowdfunding campaign, they are expanding to Norway with the launch of 🧩 Demo. Next stop? Germany.
This interview with international director 🧞Jakob Moll, who is leading Zetland's expansion strategy, is probably one of the most valuable links I've ever shared in this newsletter. No hyperbole.
"I usually say that there is not one single answer to why journalism is valuable, but there needs to be an answer that you can present. “Why are we doing this? Why is it valuable? Why do we think you would benefit from it?” [...] The other thing is to lean into two-way communication. We need to be humble and to listen. It really begins with asking open questions, trying to figure out in deep conversations how you can create meaning and value in people’s lives. That is how you find your path."
5. Mensagem de Lisboa: 5 years of being there for Lisbon 👉 LINK
Happy birthday to 🧩 Mensagem de Lisboa, which in the last five years, under the leadership of 🧞Catarina Carvalho, found its way to sustainability "through partnerships with entities (public and private) that actually value the work we do for the city" – always by putting the people of Lisbon at the centre of the story.
"That’s what happens when we actually get to know one another. Belonging, being part of something, building ties. That’s our mission. To be the place where Lisbon comes to be together. To meet. Not through the “breaking news,” but through the little stories."
6. How Croatia's Telegram.hr built a successful subscription model in a country where users won't pay 👉 LINK
"When we started, it was all about, ‘Oh, you can’t do this in Croatia. No one will pay. People like free content. Who’s going to pay for your stupid content?’"
Ten years after founding 🧩 Telegram.hr (not to be confused with the messaging app), CEO 🧞Miran Pavić now leads a company that relies heavily – although not exclusively – on audience revenue, and is closing in on the goal of 30,000 paying subscribers.
7. Irish Times journalism now fully funded by subscribers 👉 LINK
All the organisations featured in this newsletter so far were established in the last 15 years. Does that mean that only "new" media outlets can find sustainability through people-centricity? 🧩 The Irish Times is 167 years old: as of last month, the revenue generated by its subscribers is fully funding its journalism. 'Nuff said.
And the most clicked link from the previous edition is... 🥁
The article I wrote to share some of the lessons I learned in Year 1 of writing a weekly newsletter:
Mattia Peretti
⇲ The LinkedIn Corner
A section of this email in which I highlight LinkedIn posts written by newsletter readers that, for different reasons, may not 'qualify' for the 7-links league, but are still interesting to share. This week:
- Noah celebrated the publication of the first zine by the Tenderloin Voice, a new hyperlocal organisation from San Francisco. #PrintIsNotDead
- Emma wrote about the importance of excellent customer service for the success of a member-funded newsroom.
- Khalil answered what's probably the most frequently asked question about user needs: "Should an article serve just one user need or many?"
Have you posted anything worth sharing with other NA readers? Send it over and I will consider including it in next week's newsletter! 💌
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