# Bürgerportal Bergisch Gladbach (Germany)
**Summary**
The Bürgerportal in GL is a local community media outlet in the city of Bergisch Gladbach in western Germany. It was established as a digital local newspaper and citizen's platform in 2009 by Georg Watzlawek and Werner Schmitz-Dietzsch. Today, the Bürgerportal's primary product is a daily newsletter, which is read by approximately 16,000 people in the city every day. Offering all content freely accessible to everyone, alongside a membership program called "Freundeskreis" with 900 voluntary paying members, the Bürgerportal stands as one of the pioneering community media outlets in Germany.
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{% tab title="Overview" %}
| **Name** | Bürgerportal in GL
|
| --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Website** | |
| **Location / Location of coverage** | Bergisch Gladbach, Germany |
| **Size of potential audience/ town region covered** | 110,000 population |
| **Year they started publishing** | 2009 |
| **Language** | German |
| **Mission statement** | Know what's going on. We endeavour to ensure comprehensive local reporting for our audience. We are a traditional local daily newspaper, but one that is published digitally as a newsletter, but also an impact-driven digital platform for citizens and local initiatives. With our Freundeskreis and BürgerAkademie, we provide a sense of community and political education and media literacy for our members.
|
| {% endtab %} | |
{% tab title="Management and team" %}
| **Founders** | Georg Watzlawek, Werner Schmitz-Dietsch |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| **Current management team** | Georg Watzlawek |
| **Team** | Full-time equivalent employees: 3 |
| {% endtab %} | |
{% tab title="Governance Structures " %}
| **Legal form of company** | sole proprietorship |
| ------------------------- | ------------------- |
| **Tax status** | for-profit |
| {% endtab %} | |
{% tab title="Products & Revenue Streams" %}
| **Main products** | Daily Newsletter (free) |
| ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Additional products** | Website (free) |
| **Audience and community reach** | Newsletter: 8,000 subscribers, but around 16,000 readers in total
Website: 60,000 to 80,000 visits / month
Freundeskreis: around 900 paying members
|
| **Most important community engagement format** | Bürgerclubs, regular small in-person discussion format |
| **Revenue streams** | Revenue: 18,000 € / month
- Advertising (40 %)
- Freundeskreis (30 %)
- Partnerships (15 %)
- Co-working space (15 %)
|
| {% endtab %} | |
| {% endtabs %} | |
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On the next pages you can read our in-depth portrait about the Bürgerportal. If you want to jump into a specific topic directly, here's the overview for you:
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