About RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND)

RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND)

The RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) — the Editorial Network Germany — is a Hanover-based newsroom network supplying national and international news to some 60 regional newspapers across Germany. Founded in 2013 as the central newsroom of the Madsack media group under the "Madsack 2018" strategy, it has grown into one of Germany's leading providers of supra-regional journalism. The network operates from Hanover with a Berlin bureau — the RND Berlin GmbH, a 2018 joint venture with DuMont (75/25) — and its consumer portal rnd.de launched on 3 September 2019. The network's founding editor was Matthias Koch, succeeded by Hannah Büchner in 2017 and Marco Fenske in 2019.

Overview

The RND is a central newsroom for regional media: it produces national politics, international news, business, culture, sports and service journalism that its partner newspapers — around 60 regional titles, primarily from the Madsack group and its partners — publish in their national and international sections. The model allows regional newspapers to offer comprehensive supra-regional coverage without maintaining their own national desks, correspondents and Berlin bureaus.

The network claims a combined readership of around 4 million for its partner titles' RND-supplied pages, giving it a national reach that rivals the great national newspapers. Its journalism follows the standards of quality regional press: reliable, balanced, accessible — serving readers who expect their local paper to explain the wider world.

The RND Berlin GmbH — the joint venture with DuMont established on 1 October 2018 (75 percent RND, 25 percent DuMont) — houses the network's capital bureau, covering federal politics, government and parliament for the partner titles. The rnd.de portal, launched on 3 September 2019, extends the network's journalism to digital readers directly.

History

The RND was founded in 2013 as the central newsroom of the Madsack Mediengruppe, under the group's "Madsack 2018" strategy. The founding reflected the economic pressures on regional newspapers: declining circulations and advertising revenues made it increasingly difficult for each title to maintain full national and international desks. The central newsroom model — one newsroom producing supra-regional content for many titles — offered a path to quality journalism at sustainable cost. The "Madsack 2018" strategy recognised that cooperation, not competition, would secure the future of regional journalism: by pooling resources for national coverage, the group's titles could focus their own newsrooms on the local journalism that distinguishes them.

Matthias Koch was the network's founding editor, establishing its journalistic identity and its relationships with the partner titles. In 2017, Hannah Büchner succeeded him, and in 2019 Marco Fenske took over the leadership, guiding the network through its expansion and digital development. Each leadership transition brought new emphases while preserving the network's core mission: quality supra-regional journalism for regional media.

A significant expansion came on 1 October 2018, when the RND Berlin GmbH was established as a joint venture with the DuMont media group (75 percent RND, 25 percent DuMont). The Berlin company houses the network's capital operations, giving the partner titles a shared Berlin bureau covering federal politics. The cooperation with DuMont — the Cologne-based publisher of titles including the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger — extended the network's reach beyond the Madsack titles, bringing Rhineland regional journalism into the network's orbit. The joint venture structure — majority RND, minority DuMont — balanced the network's leadership with its partner's participation.

On 3 September 2019, the network launched rnd.de, its consumer-facing news portal, bringing the RND's journalism directly to digital readers. The portal's launch marked the network's evolution from a B2B newsroom service into a media brand in its own right — a recognition that the network's journalism had an audience beyond its partner titles' print readers.

Content and Programming

The RND's wire — its central newsroom output — covers national politics, international news, business and economics, culture, sports, science and service journalism. The Berlin bureau's political coverage — federal government, parliament, parties and elections — is the network's core strength, giving regional readers authoritative reporting from the capital.

The network's journalism is produced for republication: its articles are written to fit the partner titles' pages, with regionalisation options that allow local editors to adapt national stories to their readers. This B2B orientation distinguishes the RND from consumer news agencies: its customers are editors, not readers, and its products are designed for the workflows of regional newsrooms — delivered on time, in the right formats, with the flexibility that daily newspaper production demands.

The rnd.de portal presents the network's journalism to digital consumers directly, with news, background, interviews and service content. The portal's launch in 2019 gave the RND a public face beyond its B2B operations, competing for digital readers with the national news portals.

Coverage and Audience

The RND supplies around 60 regional newspapers, primarily from the Madsack group — including titles such as the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, the Leipziger Volkszeitung and the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten — and its partners. The network claims a combined readership of around 4 million for its partner titles, giving its journalism a national footprint through regional channels. The partner titles span Germany's regional press landscape, from Lower Saxony to Saxony, bringing the network's Berlin and world reporting to readers who trust their local papers.

The partner titles' readers — regional newspaper audiences across Germany, from Hanover to Leipzig to Dresden — receive the RND's national and international journalism as part of their daily paper. The rnd.de portal extends this reach to digital readers nationwide, competing in the crowded market of German news portals.

Ownership

The RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland GmbH is part of the Madsack Mediengruppe, the Hanover-based media group that founded the network in 2013. Madsack is one of Germany's leading regional media groups, with newspapers, digital media and other holdings across the country. The group's Hanover headquarters — in the capital of Lower Saxony — houses both the media group's management and the network's central newsroom, creating a close integration between the network and its founding publisher.

The RND Berlin GmbH — the network's capital bureau — is a joint venture established on 1 October 2018, with 75 percent held by RND and 25 percent by the DuMont media group. The Hanover headquarters places the network at the heart of the Madsack group, while the Berlin bureau covers the federal capital.

Digital Presence

The network's consumer portal at rnd.de — launched on 3 September 2019 — presents its journalism to digital readers, with news, background and service content. The portal competes with Germany's national news sites, offering the RND's quality journalism to an online audience beyond the partner titles' print readership.

The RND is present on social media, sharing its journalism and engaging digital readers. The network's B2B digital services deliver its newsroom output to partner titles electronically, powering the national sections of some 60 regional newspapers. Founded in 2013 as Madsack's central newsroom and grown into a national journalism network, the RND demonstrates how regional media can sustain quality supra-regional journalism through cooperation.

The website field in this profile reflects the network's official online home. Founded in 2013 as Madsack's central newsroom under the "Madsack 2018" strategy, expanded with the DuMont Berlin joint venture in 2018 and the rnd.de portal in 2019, the RND has grown from a cost-saving cooperation into one of Germany's leading journalism networks — proving that regional media can sustain national-quality journalism through collaboration — and that cooperation is the secure and sustainable future of the regional press in Germany and beyond.