The Creation of a Global Newspaper

Authors: Markus Vähälä and Michael Bierman

The core idea behind Citizen Network News is a desire to inform and connect people from around the world on topics that are essential to community development. The theme of the newspaper’s first edition is public spaces. Public spaces are the cornerstone for citizens to gather, build collective projects and form community relationships. Public spaces are also under threat worldwide from privatization and the fracturing of communities due to a myriad of issues.

The newspaper was founded by the international Citizen Network and The Strindberg Laboratory in Los Angeles USA. Citizen Network consists of more than 280 groups and organizations in more than 50 countries including more than 3000 citizen activists working to build inclusion, justice, democracy, creating resilient communities and protecting our nature everywhere. The Strindberg Laboratory is an active non-profit theater company based in Los Angeles working with citizens and community centers around California. The two groups have collaborated over the years producing international No Labels No Walls festivals. The festivals consisted of diverse NGOs, art providers and individuals from around the world collaborating on a range of events celebrating diversity, equality and community inclusivity.

Citizen Network News aims to inform the general public about important topics that affect communities worldwide in an in depth and comprehensive manner. In addition, we decided to make the newspaper print only. This decision was based on numerous studies which indicate that the retention rate of people reading in print is much higher than reading in digital. A printed newspaper also allows our readers to share articles in person with their friends, families and colleagues instead of from their computer screens. And, newspapers across the globe are going out of business so the quantity of news that brings communities together is lacking and we wanted to fill this need.

In America a prominent Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam has remarked that over half of all civic spaces have simply disappeared. We hope that this newspaper will raise the alarm on why we should preserve and expand public spaces globally to keep our communities strong as well as our democracies alive.

We are really proud that such a diverse group of reporters from five different countries have written the articles for our first edition. The articles highlight public spaces in the reporter’s community and why the public space is so important. From these articles the reader will be able to learn about worldwide trends that affect public spaces and communities. The articles are written in the language that is most comfortable for the reporters to express themselves so articles are written in both English and Finnish. Besides just written articles, the first edition includes art work and photos related to the articles.

In a world where commercial interests dominate public discourse and digital platforms create division and polarization, this newspaper hopes to offer an alternative; a physical media created with ordinary people for ordinary people everywhere. 

We believe that a physical newspaper is a good medium to create appreciation for diverse perspectives and enable global conversation around the themes that are authentic and relevant to all citizens. 

The creation and distribution of a community centered newspaper creates new connections and opportunities for citizens to form stronger relationships. We need a newspaper like the one we have created more now than ever. After the COVID lockdowns people are now surrounded by more mistrust, isolation, fear and violence. We need to counter this with more community connections.

Order a copy via the link below.

If you would like to join the group of journalists creating Citizen Network News, please send an email to nolabelsnowalls@gmail.com

Photo: The Strindberg Laboratory – Senior citizens attending Fairfax Senior Center’s Valentine's Day celebration.

The publisher is Citizen Network Research. The Creation of a Global Newspaper © Markus Vähälä and Michael Bierman 2024.