Community Journalism

Vilaweb see themselves as deeply rooted in the Catalan independence movement. Building relationships with their community members is therefore extremely important to them. This manifests itself not only in special formats, but above all in the community mindset that Vilaweb has established. For example, Vilaweb is based in a freely accessible editorial office, the front part of which is a bookshop. This makes it very easy for people to get in touch with the journalists. Partal also says that he personally answers every email from the community.

The most important community format is the annual Vilaweb Assembly. This is a series of 10 to 20 events across the year in different cities in Spain. All Vilaweb subscribers are invited to these events and can discuss the future of Vilaweb with the editorial team.

WhatsApp is another important channel for contact with the community. The idea behind it was born during the Covid-19 pandemic: Vilaweb created a WhatsApp group with doctors from hospitals across Spain who helped to better assess the situation, carry out fact-checking and critically review government guidelines. Vilaweb currently maintains several dozen such expert WhatsApp groups in which various topics are discussed and whose knowledge the editorial team can tap into if necessary.

Paying subscribers can also comment on articles and discuss them with other subscribers and the journalists on the Vilaweb website. In order to keep the discussions as civilised as possible, clear names are mandatory.

Despite all the openness towards the community, Vilaweb also sets clear boundaries to the community approach. Although the community can participate in a variety of ways, they also make it clear that professional journalists and the management team are the ones who ultimately make the decisions.