Applications for the fourth and final edition of the Médianes Program, a collective mentoring initiative designed by and for leaders of emerging, independent and committed media outlets, closes on September 30, 2025.
Since 2024, we have been fortunate to support more than 30 independent, emerging and committed media outlets through this program, including Gaze, l'Informé, Disclose, Les 3 Ours, Climax, Vertige Media, Arrêt sur images, FLAASH, Prison Insider, What's up EU, Les Surligneurs, Vert… Again this year, a cohort of 10 independent and committed media outlets will be selected to take part in the adventure.
Within Médianes studio, we work every day with media leaders on their strategy, financing and management challenges. The Médianes Programme was born from this hands-on experience, to share these learnings in a collective and accessible format. So far, thanks in particular to support from the Ministry of Culture and our coaching studio's commitment, we have been able to offer a nearly year-long collective programme at a solidarity rate of €150 per month for ten projects.
To select the 10 projects chosen for this new edition, we are calling on four media leaders who share Médianes' values. Their expertise will allow us to bring together a diverse range of projects while ensuring the coherence needed to promote mutual support and growth. We rely on their sharp perspective of the ecosystem, how it works, and their experience (management, journalism, marketing, leadership, financing…) to enhance our own understanding.
Indeed, the jury will also include members of the Médianes team, namely Marine Doux, Christelle Perrin and Dorine Planté. We will contribute our own expertise (management, operations, marketing, design) to enrich the discussions that will shape the direction of this fourth cohort. We are also supported in the selection process by Sixtine Yung, head of missions and training projects.
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 ;
- capacity for evolution within the program and then, within the ecosystem.
Our main priority will be to identify the projects where the Médianes Program will be most useful, so they can consolidate and scale up.
Learn more about the jury in detail
For the fourth cohort of the program, we are pleased to have on the jury: Baptiste Bouthier (La Revue dessinée), Julien Cadot (Numerama), Vincent Couronne (Les Surligneurs), Lou Grasser (Le Monde), and from Médianes, Marine Doux, Christelle Perrin and Dorine Planté.
Baptiste Bouthier – La Revue Dessinée
A journalist for fifteen years, Baptiste Bouthier is editor-in-chief of La Revue Dessinée. Having previously worked in data, fact-checking and new media formats during his eight years at Libération, he has consistently prioritized reinventing journalistic formats throughout his career. Also an author and scriptwriter of comic books, he joined La Revue Dessinée four years ago. A quarterly publication and publishing house, this pioneering review—unique of its kind in the world—is an essential reference for investigative journalism in comic form, with numerous bestsellers in bookstores.
Julien Cadot – Numerama
Julien was a freelance journalist and entrepreneur for 5 years, collaborating notably with the magazines Humanoïde, ÈreNumérique, and Frandroid. He joined the Humanoid group in 2015 to oversee editorial strategy, then became editor-in-chief of Numerama. He now leads the execution of the group's projects as Chief Operating Officer.
Vincent Couronne – Les Surligneurs
Vincent Couronne is chief executive of the media outlet Les Surligneurs, a misinformation-fighting media organization he co-founded in 2017. He is also a law researcher and misinformation policy specialist, teaching at Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Vincent serves as secretary general of Spiil, the independent press union. In this capacity, he represents members on the steering committee of the Strategic Fund for Press Development. He also participated in creating the European Fact-Checking Standards Network, where he continues to serve on the board. The EFCSN ensures compliance with a strict code of ethics among its 60 member media outlets across Europe and advocates for their interests in Brussels.
Vincent is also an alumnus of the third edition of the Médianes Programme.
Lou Grasser – Le Monde
Lou Grasser is Director of Digital Operations at the Monde, where she leads the subscription, audience, product, CRM and data teams. Having joined in 2015, she has helped develop digital audience and evolve the newspaper's business model toward a more direct and sustainable relationship with readers. She also supports other titles in the Le Monde Group in developing their digital strategy. A member of the Group's executive committee, she sits on the supervisory board of Nouvel Obs, where she is Vice-President, and is treasurer of the Online Publishers Association (OPA Europe). Before joining Le Monde, she worked at Google and Prisma Média. Lou Grasser's perspective on developing editorial products tailored to audiences and her knowledge of readership make her an expert in development strategy and adaptation—including within one of France's most emblematic yet long-established traditional media outlets.
And what about Médianes in all this?
Jury members will participate alongside us in evaluating the projects as a whole and in forming the fourth cohort of the Médianes Program. Among the Médianes team mobilized for project selection, we have three people with diverse profiles (editorial, marketing, technical, design).
Marine Doux — Medians
Co-founder and Editorial Director, Marine Doux is an expert in audience development, business models, and management. She helps media leaders build sustainable and ethical news organizations on a daily basis.
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, Le Monde, etc.
Christelle Perrin — Medians and Lands
Artistic Director of Médianes, Christelle Perrin oversees all of Médianes' graphic productions and supports studio projects in this area. Christelle creates paper and web mockups, visual identities, and mappings for media on a daily basis, and also directs the artistic vision of the Pays journal.
Among her collaborations, Christelle has worked with La Déferlante, La Disparition, France Médias Monde (RFI, France24), Maze, Le Ticket, L'Intimiste, POLITICO in Europe, Thiga, 60 Millions de Consommateurs, etc.
Dorine Planté — Medians
A marketing and communication expert, Dorine has been Support Manager at Médianes since May 2025. With a degree in Political and Institutional Communication, she began her career at the Fondation des Femmes. She also worked in parallel for other organizations in the same sector. She subsequently developed her skills in fundraising and event management in London, with an international NGO committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflicts. After coordinating communications for a research project at a London university, she worked for a French university foundation. She then worked at the Sherpa association for over 3 years as a communications officer.
About the Medianes Program
The Medianes Programme allows media founders to step back from their project, deepen their knowledge in areas useful for developing their media outlet, and take it to the next level. It is aimed at all those with an existing independent and committed media project who wish to develop their project based on viable, virtuous economic models.
This program offers nine months of support, starting from late October 2025, divided into two months of collective 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.
And if you're interested in helping us make this program possible next year, with the Ministry of Culture's press aid now frozen: don't hesitate! We need you to preserve press independence and pluralism.
