A People’s paper: What reader-funded journalism can teach us

While there, I interviewed the editor of die tageszeitung, or simply taz, Mattias Bröckers. What began as a research interview quickly became a moment of journalistic awakening. I was struck by the courage and ingenuity behind the taz model, a newspaper run not by corporate bosses but by its readers. I could not help but imagine how such a model might thrive in Botswana. At a time when global advertising revenues are shrinking and media houses are facing existential threats, the taz stands as a living embodiment that journalism does not have to sell its soul to survive. Its story is not just about alternative funding, it is about a radical belief in the public’s ability and willingness to sustain truth-telling. I was particularly moved by how it all began.

Taxi by Night, Editor by Day