Christoph Bumb, who was a political journalist with the national newspaper for over five years, announced the digital magazine project during a radio discussion broadcast by 100,7 on Sunday 1 October.

“It will focus on critical, in-depth, investigative journalism,” Bumb told Delano on Monday, adding: “We will step back and focus on the bigger stories and not just deliver the same news that many media outlets do.”

The journalist further explained the project would be developed in the early stages by three journalists, a team that could rise to five within the first 12 months. The investigations and in-depth articles would initially be published in German; however Bumb said the goal will be to publish in languages which people understand in Luxembourg. “It will mostly be German and French but I wouldn’t exclude articles on specific topics that will be treated in English,” he explained.

The underlining goal, the journalist said, is to create a media that is independent of any political or ideological influence, breaking with the norm in Luxembourg publishing houses.

Readers as investors

“The only investors will be the readers. It sounds rather idealistic but there’s a way and there are proven examples in other countries that this works in reality and is not just as an ideal business model,” the journalist said.

The issue of editorial independence was raised just ten days ago following the departure of the Luxemburger Wort’s editor, Jean-Lou Siweck. Siweck reportedly left because of pressure from the board chairman Luc Frieden for the newspaper to be more favourable towards the CSV party, with which it was historically aligned. Bumb said: “I think the political independence or the still ongoing pressure by political parties is still a big issue. It’s a motivation for younger journalists to say there has to be a different way.”

Furthermore, the journalist underlined he hoped that the project would push the bounds of digital journalism, showing it can be a platform for high quality content which is not driven by “clicks alone”.