Project Rhodopi: Empowering Regional News for Sustainable Growth and Civic Participation

It will namely help Xronos understand the needs of young university students and audiences above 70 years of age via a market research, and train Xronos’ personnel to tailor its content accordingly. It will also educate the target audiences by explaining them the work of journalists and the value of local news, and provide them free printed newspapers for a short period of time.

Xronos is a regional news group, active in the regional unit of Rhodopi (East Macedonia and Thrace Region, about 105.000 inhabitants), one of the poorest regions in the EU, with adeclining and ageing population, which is also home to theDemocritusUniversity of Thrace. The project aims to help Xronos address the main contemporary challenges faced by local media in terms of readership and income, and support it in improving its business model and adapting its content to the needs of specific audiences.

More concretely the project will bring Xronos closer to two particular target audiences: Young readers, and especially students in the University faculties in Komotini and seniors above 70 years of age that live in the scarcely inhabited areas outside of the town of Komotini.
Through market research, staff training and direct dialogue with its readers -which includes interactive workshops and free distribution of the printed newspaper for limited time- the project aims to help Xronos grow sustainably, educate the target audiences by explaining them the work of journalists and the value of local news, and empower local communities towards active civic participation.

Target group

Xronos is active in the regional unit of Rhodopι (part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace in Greece) which has a population of 104.262 inhabitants. While Xronos targets all adult population of the region, the two target groups that will benefit particularly from this project are:

1. The young population (18-30 years of age) of Rhodopi and more specifically the students of the Democritus University of Thrace.
2. The older population (above 70 years of age) of Rhodopi and particularly the seniors that live in the scarcely inhabited areas outside of the town of Komotini.

Goals of the project

In the short-term, the activities planned for this project will raise awareness amongst the two target group members around the role and functioning of localmedia. Additionally, young and older citizens will also gain awareness about the relation between local journalism and active citizenship.

In the medium-term, activities planned for this project and namely the market research will allow Xronos to understand young and older audiences.
In the long-term connecting Xronos with external experts and stakeholders, may lead to long-term partnerships strengthen the role of local media, and foster inclusion of citizens of all ages in local life.

Implemented activities 

• Understanding young students’ and older citizens’ needs via a market research
• Developing an adapted business plan for the newspaper based on the findings of the market research
• Learning how to implement the adapted business plan via training
• Meeting our young students’ and older citizens’ needs by adapting the content of our newspaper based on market research and according to the business plan
• Providing the adapted printed newspapers (1000 newspapers per day) for free for one month to young students and older citizens
• Educating these target groups on the work of journalists and the value of local news via workshops.
• Gathering feedback from the target groups on further needs.

Impact addressing news deserts

They believe that the impact of the project in addressing and countering the phenomenon of news deserts was quite noticeable. Young students and older citizens better understood the role and functioning of local media. The audiences also better understood the relation between local journalism and active citizenship. This led to a connection and start of conversations on the common challenges they face and to explore possible solutions and available sources of relevant information. Young students and older citizens of Rhodopi therefore understood the dangers of news deserts and the importance of local media for their daily lives and became better informed and more active citizens.