A thousand texts and no end in sight: kompreno offers quality journalism without borders
Endless diversity, every day: kompreno — the European initiative for high-quality journalism without language barriers — has now translated and republished over 1,000 articles.
Its founder, Jochen Adler, wrote INC today:
“My project, kompreno, is bringing together quality journalism from a diversity of trusted sources. The Voices of Europe. A digital reading experience with no language barriers. We are deliberately taking a “retro” approach: no “breaking news”, no push messages, no doom scrolling, a low-dopamine experience, no free trial, no social engagement features, no advertising, no data brokerage, no click-bait headlines. Publishers aren’t even paid based on reach and engagement. It’s quality journalism as it should be: The readers are asked to pay instead of being the product. You’re giving money in exchange for uninterrupted pleasure. We’re tiny, but always looking for new partners, and the diversity of our offering is growing every day.”
After a brief exchange, Jochen sent us the following press release:
The first reading experience without borders brings together the most relevant analysis, reporting and opinion and makes it available in five major European languages. Articles are selected daily from lighthouse media that shape national debates (such as Independent, DIE ZEIT and Le Monde), but also from specialised magazines and innovative participatory journalism projects.
“It’s an Interrail pass for the digital world!” says founder Jochen Adler. “Every single text is rewarding. Our content team does a fantastic job with the curation and editing.”
With over 20 media partners from 10 European countries, the subscription already provides enough reading material for a few rainy weekends or long train journeys. The team is constantly expanding the selection, but “it’s already enough for a few roundtrips between Frankfurt and Rome,” Adler notes.
“Constant breaking news and the barrage of social platforms have led to a widespread withdrawal from news consumption among many people,” notes Giuseppe Menditto, the Head of Content at kompreno. “This is precisely why our target audience from Europe and around the world enjoys our ‘slow journalism’: the background, the context, and the diversity of perspectives.”
“We are not a supermarket, but rather a delicatessen. We are constantly learning from our readers and improving our offer,” adds Paul Maibach, Head of Product, who is also responsible for technology. “Over time, we can recommend content that is better suited to everyone’s reading preferences, while still providing veritable surprise and thought-provoking discoveries.”
“Technology has to serve humanity,” concludes Adler. “We incorporate AI where it enables what was previously impossible, but we always retain the human touch. That’s why our media partners see us as pioneers for digital transformation, as well as for their own international growth.”
For example, Jago Kosolosky, chief editor of MO* from Belgium (https://www.mo.be/), says: “Joining the kompreno network was a very easy decision. Not only do we offer our unique reporting to new readers who don’t know MO* yet, but we also created a promising new revenue stream. On top of that, our efforts regarding multilingual publishing are being multiplied through kompreno.”
For eastwest.eu, the geopolitical magazine based in Italy, Fabrizia Falzetti, editorial coordinator, adds: “We are very pleased to make our articles available for more readers in more languages. kompreno offers a very innovative platform and business model to help us reach a larger audience.”
With its interdisciplinary team, spread throughout the continent, and a broad network of experienced partners and advisors, the young company spent two years preparing the launch of its product, which is fair and ad-free. The locally rooted start-up is independently financed and managed with a principled stance by the owner. Kompreno was founded in Frankfurt during the Coronavirus pandemic.
More Information / Contact / Interviews: https://kompreno.eu/press/
Contact kompreno via Jochen Adler, Schleusenstr. 15, 60327 Frankfurt, Germany
https://kompreno.eu, tel +49.69.8700639.80, email: office@kompreno.eu