Imagine life with no advertising revenue: No ads; no investors; and it is suggested, no compromise.

Delegates to last month’s World News Media Congress in Krakow learned it not only could, but does work at France’s Mediapart.

“It was a crazy bet. A lot of experts said it would never work,” chief executive Cécile Sourd told the conference. She said many were sceptical when Mediapart launched in 2008, as few outlets had attempted to build a business model as purely focused on their audience… and even fewer had done so with the same level of success.

From the otset, the digital-only publisher has been entirely reader-funded, its 230,000-plus paying subscribers now providing 99 per cent of its revenues. Profitable for the last 14 years, it has become renowned for the depth of its investigations and revelations that have shaken the highest levels of French politics and business.

While Mediapart’s uncompromising, fully reader-funded model may not be a viable template for all publishers, all should take note of the key lesson from its success: “Radical choices, core choices about model, revenue, or journalism, can have real success,” she said.

Radical choices made to guarantee their editorial independence included not featuring any advertising; not accepting public subsidies, and not making financial agreements with tech platforms.

More reasons why it stands out emerged towards the end of Sourd’s presentation. When discussing Mediapart’s efforts to hire younger journalists from diverse backgrounds – “because they bring new ideas and new subjects, and we want to resemble the society we claim to talk to” – she talked about how Mediapart’s leadership has evolved. Since the founding president and publishing editor stepped down last year, all four of Mediapart’s most senior leaders have been women.

“That means something. That says something about who we are,” she said.

-WAN-Ifra, with thanks