atmo founders in conversation

After more than 30 years, Greenpeace Magazine has been discontinued. The editorial team continues and founds a successor - atmo.
We spoke to Frauke Ladleif and Katja Morgenthaler about the new magazine, their plans and the step into self-employment.

nextMedia: Hello Frauke, hello Katja! You are currently working with your colleagues on establishing your own magazine called atmo. How did that come about?

atmo: As a team, we have built up Greenpeace Magazine over many years with a lot of passion and expertise - conceptually, in terms of content and also in terms of design, as an independent source for environmental, climate and nature conservation issues. Last year, we were informed that the magazine was being discontinued. This came as a shock to us. But not now, as the climate crisis and species extinction are escalating, we thought. And not with 50,000 subscribers. On the same day, we decided as an editorial team to carry on. And that's how atmo was born.

nextMedia: There are countless reasons for and against going down this path. What inspires you?

atmo: On the one hand, our conviction that independent and well-founded environmental journalism is needed in view of the ecological crises and the spread of fake news. On the other hand, we are motivated by the great support and encouragement we are currently receiving from the readership of Greenpeace Magazine and beyond. We have the feeling that we are doing exactly the right thing right now.

nextMedia: What would you like to do differently with atmo?

atmo: We want to continue to provide readers with well-founded and varied information about the environment, climate and justice . Our aim is still not to paint the great apocalypses. On the contrary: we want to whet readers' appetites for the future. Even more so than before. We want our journalism to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for the future. We want to achieve this by telling stories of success - on a large and small scale. What is perhaps different is that we consciously see ourselves as part of a network of media professionals, researchers and committed individuals and want to cooperate more closely with others. And we will be more community-oriented.

nextMedia: Does the name "atmo" have a special meaning for you in this context?

atmo: Yes. atmo stands for atmosphere - that wafer-thin layer that envelops our planet. It's where all the weather takes place and where the climate heats up in a life-threatening way. It is the basis of our existence and connects all people and all life with each other. On the other hand, atmo stands for mood. And this too has been heating up faster and faster in recent times. Vociferous actors are thwarting effective climate protection and defaming or even threatening people who are committed to it. We want to counter this and create an "atmo sphere", i.e. become the starting point for a community that takes matters into its own hands, inspires each other and encourages each other to help shape the future.

nextMedia: What products would you like to reach the readership with?

atmo: Our core product is initially the print magazine. The magazine will be published six times a year. For all subscribers, the magazine will also be available digitally via app and website at no additional cost. We have a lot of conversations with readers to clarify questions and gauge their needs and interests. It became clear that the printed magazine remains the desired product - and not just for older people. We can see that print is becoming more popular again among younger people. We also offer a purely digital subscription at a lower price, but this has so far been very rarely booked.

nextMedia: Are you planning any other digital offers?

atmo: Yes. We want to be where people like to read us and that definitely includes digital channels. We will offer topic-specific newsletters - our newsletter "greening USA" has been published since mid-September in the run-up to the elections, for example. And we also want to distribute our content via messenger services.

nextmedia: How do you want to get young people excited about your content?

atmo: Firstly, of course, via social media formats, which we are currently working on. In addition, there will be a column in the magazine, for example, in which a younger colleague writes opinionated articles about sustainability, the environment and the climate from her own perspective. We also want to briefly summarize the most important facts and figures of an article at the end to make it easier to read quickly. And that brings us back to the magazine: we are convinced that an aesthetic and well-researched magazine that classifies and sorts the most important developments will also interest younger people.

nextMedia: However, the willingness of this target group to buy will not be high...

atmo: That's true. Many people shy away from an annual subscription. That's why we will create other options to support us in the future - for example with a monthly voluntary contribution like the Guardian or the taz.

nextMedia: And that brings us to the business talk. You've been editors for many years. Now you are founding a company. How does that feel and what is changing for you right now?

atmo: It's wonderful, incredibly exciting and exhausting at the same time (laughs). The whole team is currently developing new skills. Before, we were an editorial team. Now we're still an editorial team, but we're also the management, marketing, sales, financial accounting, website development, product development and much more. We really enjoy familiarizing ourselves with new topics and are learning an incredible amount. At the same time, we sometimes find it difficult to make decisions because we are not experts and feel insecure. That's normal, but it's also very challenging. The great thing about it is that we can do everything as we see fit. Only time will tell whether we make the right decisions. But we empower ourselves. That feels good.

nextMedia: Especially at the beginning, the to-do list is probably endless and everything should actually happen at the same time. Were there any strategies, tools or people who helped you get started?

atmo: Yes. Many doors have opened for our project and they are still opening. Hamburg has a very good ecosystem for media professionals. We don't experience any competition with each other. On the contrary: many people make time for us. This helpfulness and support inspires us. The first ideas for cooperation have already emerged as a result. In addition, your media toolkit neuemedien.org has helped us a lot - and we're not saying that because we're giving you an interview. It's important to get going quickly, especially at the start. The toolkit enabled us to take our first steps quickly. It gave us a good overview of what needed to be done - and also provided us with tools for this. If we had any questions, we were also able to contact your co-initiators from Neue Narrative directly, who always helped us immediately.

nextMedia: What is your plan for the next few months?

atmo: The last issue of Greenpeace Magazine has just been published. We worked on this issue right up to the end. From now on we can concentrate completely on atmo. We are working on a campaign for late fall to make our media project better known. In order to launch atmo, we need at least 17,000 subscriptions by mid-December. So far, 8,000 people have pre-ordered a subscription from us. If we reach our target, the first issue of atmo will be published in spring 2025.

nextMedia: Thank you for talking to us!