Selection for the second edition of the Medianes Program, a collective mentorship initiative designed by and for founders of independent, mission-driven media outlets, closes on October 1st. A panel of 10 independent, mission-driven media projects will be selected to participate in the program.
In creating this program with studio Médianes, we wanted to offer the most useful and accessible support for emerging media leaders. Thanks in particular to financial support from the Ministry of Culture, we are able to offer a year-long collective program at a price of €150 per month for ten projects.
To select the 10 projects chosen for this new edition, we are calling on five media leaders who share the values of Médianes and the program, and whose expertise enables us to build a cohort that is both rich and balanced enough to create an environment conducive to project development. We rely on their keen insight into the ecosystem, how it works, and their experience (management, operations, journalism, marketing, leadership, funding…) to enhance our own perspective.
Indeed, the jury will also include members of the Médianes team: Marine Doux, Baptiste Thevelein, Christelle Perrin, Juliette Cahen, and Pauline Butel. We will bring our own expertise (management, operations, marketing, design) to enrich the discussions that will shape this second cohort. We are also supported in the selection process by Sixtine Yung, junior project manager.
Each project will be evaluated based on different criteria:
- solidity and coherence of the editorial project;
- foundation of a sound economic model;
- development prospects and project ambition;
- positive impact of the project ;
- ability to evolve within the program and thereafter within the ecosystem.
Our primary concern will be to identify the projects where the Médianes Program can be most helpful and effective, so as to help them consolidate and scale up.
Learn more about the jury
For the program's second cohort, we're pleased to have on the jury: Sarah Ichou (Le Bondy Blog), Augustin Naepels (Les Jours), Lou Grasser (Le Monde), Renaud Creus (Mediapart), Juliette Quef (Vert), and from Médianes, Marine Doux, Baptiste Thevelein, Christelle Perrin, Juliette Cahen and Pauline Butel.
Sarah Ichou — Le Bondy Blog
Sarah Ichou is the director of Bondy Blog, a media outlet covering working-class neighborhoods for 18 years. Born in the aftermath of the 2005 revolts, Le Bondy Blog aims to give voice to neighborhood residents, tell their stories with dignity and honesty, and rebalance their often problematic representation in traditional media.
Having progressed through every level at Bondy Blog, from internship to management, Sarah Ichou offers an informed perspective grounded in comprehensive experience of how an independent, committed media outlet operates and evolves.
Augustin Naepels — The Days
Augustin Naepels is the chief executive officer of the online media outlet Les Jours. The only co-founder who is not a journalist, he has been responsible for the technical and financial aspects of managing the media since its launch in 2016. He is also vice-president of Spiil, the Independent Online Information Press Union.
How can independent, committed media develop in a saturated, crisis-ridden ecosystem? Augustin Naepels builds development strategies that align with viable and virtuous economic models.
Lou Grasser — Le Monde
Lou Grasser is Director of Marketing & Product at Le Monde. She is responsible for growing print and digital subscriptions, developing audience, improving user experience, and CRM strategy. She joined in 2015 to develop the audience for the Monde website and apps, and quickly implemented new initiatives to drive digital subscription growth, contributing to the company's business model transformation. She is also currently a member of Le Monde Group's Executive Committee, a member of the Supervisory Board of Télérama, and treasurer of the Online Publishers Association (OPA Europe). She previously worked at Google and Prisma Média.
Lou Grasser's perspective on developing editorial products tailored to audiences and her knowledge of audience behavior make her an expert in development and adaptation strategy—including within one of France's most iconic and longest-established traditional media outlets.
Renaud Creus — Mediapart
Renaud Creus is the director of communications at Mediapart. After working for professional organizations in the communications sector and various brands, he joined Mediapart in 2014 to develop social networks, then communications for the independent online media outlet.
Renaud Creus is an expert in communication and marketing. His expertise in marketing and communication strategies and tools has enabled him to develop a media brand within a complex ecosystem and to help strengthen Mediapart's position as France's leading independent reference media.
Juliette Quef – Green
Juliette Quef is a journalist and cofounder of Vert, an independent media outlet that puts climate and living systems at the heart of its editorial mission. A former expert advising corporate committees, she spent five years conducting extensive investigations into working conditions and gender equality. With Vert, she initiated the Charter for Journalism Equal to the Ecological Emergency, signed by more than 2,000 professionals and a hundred newsrooms, which aims to improve journalistic coverage of these issues.
Juliette Quef was part of the first cohort of the Médianes Program. Drawing on her daily experience as founder of an independent and committed media outlet and her involvement in the program, she contributes her expertise to select profiles most likely to benefit from this support.
And what about Médianes in all this?
Jury members will participate alongside us in evaluating projects holistically and building the second cohort of the Médianes Program. Among the Médianes team mobilized for project selection, we have five people with diverse profiles (editorial, marketing, technical, design).
Baptiste Thevelein — Medians and Countries
Co-founder and Project Director at Médianes, Baptiste Thevelein leads the team responsible for digital products, advocacy, and commercial strategy. An expert in websites and web products, subscription and fundraising campaigns, and economic model development, Baptiste advises numerous leaders in growing their organizations.
Beaux Arts, StreetPress, Reporters Without Borders, AOC, Arrêt sur images, POLITICO, 60 Millions de Consommateurs, TheMetaNews and Vert are among his collaborations. Baptiste is also co-founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine Pays dedicated to territories.
Pauline Butel — Medians
Head of coaching and training at Médianes, Pauline Butel is responsible for the Médianes Programme and training-related matters.
Pauline notably spearheaded marketing campaign strategy and oversaw the development of a support program for 20 media outlets from the Balkans (CFI). In 2023, Pauline supported the Arrêt sur images team in its subscription campaign (+1000 new subscribers in October 2023) and in developing a marketing division.
Christelle Perrin — Medians and Lands
Artistic Director of Médianes, Christelle Perrin is responsible for all of Médianes' graphic design productions, as well as supporting studio projects in this area. Christelle designs paper and web mockups, visual identities and information architectures for media on a daily basis, and also provides art direction for the Pays publication.
Among her collaborations, Christelle counts La Déferlante, La Disparition, France Médias Monde (RFI, France24), Maze, Le Ticket, L'Intimiste, POLITICO in Europe, Thiga, 60 Millions de Consommateurs, etc.
Marine Doux — Medians
Co-founder and Director of Projects, Marine Doux leads the editorial and marketing team at Médianes. An expert in audience development, business models and management, she helps media leaders daily build sustainable and ethical news organizations.
Since 2018, she has worked on the launch and development of around a hundred titles, from traditional media to emerging publications, including La Déferlante, Vert, POLITICO in Europe, Kometa, RFI, La Disparition, Arrêt sur images, etc.
Juliette Cahen — Medians
After two years of coordinating studio client-related topics and managing projects (Vert, Kometa, StreetPress, Contexte, Stup Média, Disclose), Juliette is now Editorial Director at Médianes. She oversees the editorial direction across different platforms and is responsible for monitoring the work of the dedicated team.
Before joining Médianes in spring 2022, Juliette worked at Welcome to the Jungle, Les Others, Spintank and Usbek & Rica.
About the Medianes Program
The Médianes Program aims to provide founders of media outlets with the analytical tools, methods, and resources needed to develop their projects on viable, ethical business models—and take their ventures to the next level. It's designed for anyone with an independent, mission-driven media project (launched anywhere from one to eight years ago).
This program was designed to be compatible with both professional and personal life. It offers nine months of support, starting from October 2024, divided into three months of group training, followed by six months of individual follow-up, as well as a post-program review twelve months after launch.
To learn more about the selection process or about the Médianes Program in general, visit the program's website. The next intake will open in spring 2025.
About Médianes
Launched in 2020, Médianes supports media founders and leaders in developing sustainable and ethical news businesses. With a non-profit media outlet and a strategy, marketing and graphic design studio, Médianes helps media organizations produce better journalism and monetize it through their audiences, sustainably.
Médianes is an entrepreneurial and associative project that supports media, those who found them, and those who create them. Médianes is built on a hybrid model: a strategy studio (agency) operated by a corporation that supports independent and engaged media, and a resource center (media) operated by a nonprofit association.
Media and consulting studio dedicated to media, you can learn more about Médianes by visiting our studio's website.
