This week, The Loop visits Inside Story in Athens, Greece. Inside Story was established after the Greek financial crisis and in an atmosphere that was deeply distrustful of the media.

“Everybody was distrustful of journalism and even of journalists,” says Dimitris Xenakis, founder and publisher. “People understood the value of journalism, but at the same time they didn’t trust the journalists. So we realized that it was a bad time to start anything, but that we had to do it.”

Inside Story is one of the new media that have managed to base itself financially mainly on subscriptions, both from individuals and from organisations and companies. This indirectly showed people that they were essentially the owners.

The biggest challenge at the moment is to get more subscribers. The newsroom feels that there are many more who would be willing to pay to subscribe, but whom they are presently not in touch with. That would increase sustainability and also create possibility to do more in-depth work.

Inside Story today has 10-15 journalists, all working on a freelance basis. One is the engagement manager, who answers questions and interact with readers. But all journalists are – or should be – in touch with readers, says Xenakis:

“We have done quite a few things to get closer to the people, who read us. We have had something called Your Story, where readers come to a big plenary to suggest stories and then vote on the different proposals. It is one of the few opportunities that journalists have to interact with their readers and to understand their needs.”