French news website Médiapart, normally paid only, decided to offer one of its articles free online for a few hours today given the high demand for the story. The latest revelations in the Bettencourt-Woerth-Sarkozy case, based on a conversation with the Bettencourt family's former accountant, describe how billionairess Liliane Bettencourt allegedly illegally donated envelopes of cash to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and other right-leaning politicians.

Médiapart, well-known for its investigations into political scandals in France, usually charges readers nine euros per month for access to all its articles, offering nothing free. The unusual move was presumably made because of the explosive nature of the story, and as a taster to hopefully encourage more subscribers.

The site obtained 5,000 new subscribers in June, according to LeTemps.ch, bringing its total to close to 30,000 individuals. Médiapart does not host advertisements, aiming to be funded entirely by paying readers, based on the idea that "subscription is the only way to guarantee editorial quality and true independence to the reader." It was founded in 2008 by a group of journalists led by former Le Monde editor Edwy Plenel, and needs 40-45,000 paying subscribers to break even. The original target for achieving this was 2012 but Plenel told Press-news.net that it could be reached sooner.

According to Presse-news.net, Médiapart is planning to release an iPhone and iPad app in the near future, and might look to produce further print products. The site has a team of 30, 25 of whom are journalists. As well as work by its journalists, Médiapart hosts a blogging platform.

If Médiapart can break even based purely on paying readers, will it be an example that other small news organisations follow?

Source: Presse-news.net, LeTemps.ch