What We Do
Local journalism
Local journalism is under particular pressure: dwindling income, declining reach and closed editorial offices are fuelling the downward spiral of basic media provision in many places. This has consequences for transparency and legitimacy, for knowledge about political contexts, for voter turnout and voting decisions - in short, for democracy.
In 2021, the Alfred Toepfer Foundation has therefore teamed up with CORRECTIV.Lokal to offer free online webinars for local journalists in the four areas of journalistic skills, tools, empowerment and local innovation. The workshops were recorded and are available for individual viewing on the Reporterfabrik website.
This webinar series ended in February 2024 with the decision to offer further training and networking opportunities in the analogue space, with a particular focus on strengthening local journalism in eastern Germany. The Toepfer Foundation therefore sponsored the first CORRECTIV.Lokal conference in Erfurt in October 2023, May 2024, and 2025. Each time, more than 300 media professionals attended panels and workshops, gained insights, and built connections.
On 30-31 January 2025, we organized the first educational workshop (CORRECTIV.Lokal Bildungswerkstatt) for local journalists, a two-day networking event designed to strengthen education coverage at the local level. Both conference days at Publix in Berlin featured input from education experts from practice and academia, with plenty of time for participants to expand their networks.
On 13-14 November 2025, the second educational workshop took place at Liane in Berlin.
© Paul Probst
- Second CORRECTIV.Lokal Bildungswerkstatt 2025
In mid-November, around 20 local and regional journalists came together for the second CORRECTIV.Lokal education conference to engage with education journalism and network with one another. Contributions on educational inequality, research methods, and possible storytelling formats provided new impulses and stimulated discussion. Together, participants explored how education can be reported on more effectively at the regional level and further developed existing research approaches.
- CORRECTIV.Lokal Conference 2025
On 10-11 May 2025, over 350 local journalists and media professionals from across Germany gathered at the University of Erfurt for the third CORRECTIV.Lokal Conference. Through panels, workshops and discussions, they exchanged ideas about the future of local journalism and strengthened collaborations. The goal was to promote quality journalism and networking at the local level and to make the importance of local journalism visible to a wider audience. Among other outcomes, the event produced the "Seven Demands to Improve Local Journalism".
- CORRECTIV.Lokal Bildungswerkstatt 2025
In late January 2025, we dedicated a two-day workshop to education journalism: around 20 local and regional journalists met at Publix in Berlin to hear presentations, develop joint reporting ideas, and discuss how to improve education coverage at the regional level.
- CORRECTIV.Lokal Conference 2024
©CORRECTIV.Lokal
On the weekend of 27 to 28 April 2024, around 300 media professionals from all over Germany came together in Erfurt again. In a variety of discussion rounds and workshops, they talked about local journalism and made new contacts.
- CORRECTIV.Lokal Conference 2023
From 21 to 22 October 2023, 220 media professionals from all over Germany came to the first CORRECTIV.Lokal Conference in Erfurt to exchange ideas about a wide variety of local journalism content and to make new contacts.
- Baltic Sea workshop 2022
From 7 to 9 September 2022, the Baltic Sea Workshop was held at Gut Siggen in cooperation with Netzwerk Recherche and CORRECTIV.Lokal.
This was aimed at anyone who has founded a new local media outlet or is currently in the start-up phase. During the three days, the opportunity was created to share start-up knowledge, exchange ideas and develop new strategies together.
In addition, there were many short inputs so that all participants could benefit from existing experience. These short presentations covered topics such as financing, legal protection and internal structuring.
©CORRECTIV.Lokal
- Archive Workshops
02.02.2024: "Das Einmaleins der Gerichtsberichterstattung" (Referentinnen Wiebke Ramm und Lilith Grull)
09.08.2023: "Webinar: So funktioniert lokaler Datenjournalismus"
26.07.2023: "So wird deine Recherche zum Podcast"
13.06.2023: "Sicherheit bei Anfeindungen von Medienschaffenden"
16.02.2023: "Werkstattbericht: AWO-Skandal" (Referent Daniel Gräber)
18.01.2023: "Login-Management: Nur geschützte Daten, sind sichere Daten" (Referent Sebastian Gurkasch)
08.12.2022: "Local Cross-border Journalism – ist das was für mich?" (Referent Ronald Tipan)
09.11.2022: ,,Klimajournalismus konkret Teil 2 - die internationale Perspektive" (Referent*innen: Gabriela Ramirez und Boris Schneider)
11.10.2022: ,,Klimajournalismus konkret Teil 1 - die lokale Perspektive" (Referent*innen: Aline Pabst und Toralf Staud)
07.10.2022: ,,Mehr als E-Mails: Das können lokale Newsletter" (Referentin: Judith Langowski)
22.09.2022: ,,Daten lesen, verstehen und nutzen" (Referenten: Simon Wörpel und Max Donheiser)
31.08.2022: ,,OSINT: Tools und Tipps für Recherchen in sozialen Netzwerken" (Referent: Boris Kartheuser)
17.08.2022: ,,Das 1x1 der Auskünfte über Firmen in Deutschland" (Referent: Jonathan Sachse)
27.07.2022 „Mit Pop-Up Redaktionen Quellen finden" (Referent: David Schraven)
05.07.2022: „Warum Klima mehr als nur ein Thema ist"
07.06.2022: „Faktoren der Klimakommunikation, und warum (nicht nur) Fakten zählen"
25.05.2022: „OSINT-Tools: Recherchetricks für den Alltag" (Referent: Sebastian Meineck)
20.04.2022: „Journalistischer Umgang mit Fluchttrauma" (Referentinnen: Pascale Müller und Ann Esswein)
28.03.2022: „Heiße Themen der Klimaforschung: Wetterextreme und Kipppunkte" (Referent: Stefan Rahmstorf)
14.02.2022: „Richtig konfrontieren und auf Anwaltsschreiben angemessen reagieren" (Referent: Thorsten Feldmann)
28.01.2022: „So geht rassismuskritischer Journalismus“ (Referentin: Konstantina Vassiliou-Enz)
19.11.2021: „Stressmanagement und mentale Gesundheit“ (Referentin: Friederike Engst)
29.10.2021: „Investigative Recherche: Neue Ideen, Struktur und Fokus" (Referent: Daniel Drepper)
16.09.2021: „IFG, Auskunftsanfragen und co." (Referent: Arne Semsrott)
19.08.2021: „Sicherheit für Journalistinnen und Journalisten und ihre Quellen" (Referentin: Pascale Müller)
08.07.2021: „Whistleblower, Informanten, harte Nüsse" (Referent:innen: Gabriela Keller, Marcus Bensmann)
24.06.2021: „Faktencheck zur Bundestagswahl" (Referentin: Uschi Jonas)
27.05.2021: „Satellitendaten finden, verstehen und auswerten" (Referent: Niklas Jordan)
29.04.2021: „Bilanzen lesen und auf Wirtschafts-Pressekonferenzen die richtigen Fragen stellen" (Referent: Frederik Richter)
Contact
Mona Janning Program Management Society and Journalism
+49 40 33 402 – 87janning[at]toepfer-stiftung.de