Plan D
2026 Finalist
Media associated with this campaign
Overview of this campaign
Plan D was created to redefine how journalism engages with its audience by placing readers’ lived experiences at the center of the journalistic process. The project’s primary objective is to build a nationwide platform where people can articulate the concrete problems they encounter in their daily lives – ranging from local infrastructure failures to administrative hurdles or social challenges – and share the solutions they have discovered or developed themselves. By doing so, Plan D aims to surface perspectives that often remain invisible in traditional reporting, especially those from regions, professions, or communities that are underrepresented in public debates.
A second core objective is to transform this collective input into a dynamic, accessible public resource. The submitted stories are structured into a searchable database designed to help users navigate recurring issues, compare experiences, and learn from one another. The goal is not only to capture widespread frustrations but also to highlight citizen-driven problem-solving, shifting journalism’s focus toward constructive dialogue and practical inspiration.
A third objective is to integrate audience contributions directly into journalistic storytelling. The project seeks to demonstrate that reader participation can enrich reporting in meaningful ways – by offering new leads, uncovering systemic patterns, and grounding abstract debates in real situations. Stories from the database are therefore developed into journalistic pieces across multiple formats, including text, video, and audio. This multiplatform approach ensures that readers’ voices inform not just the project’s dataset, but also the broader editorial output.
Finally, Plan D aims to strengthen public trust in journalism by making its processes more transparent and collaborative. By inviting readers to become co-authors and by showing how their perspectives shape coverage, the project fosters a sense of shared ownership and civic participation. In this way, Plan D positions journalism not only as an observer of social challenges, but as an active facilitator of community-driven change.
Results for this campaign
By December 12th, 2025, Plan D has become one of Germany’s most substantial reader-engagement initiatives, gathering more than 11,500 entries in its public database. Each submission documents an everyday problem—often paired with a solution—creating a uniquely broad and detailed map of the challenges citizens face across the country.
Building on this foundation, the project has developed a diverse range of editorial formats that bring these voices into journalism. One major output is the election Slow-Blog series, produced from readers’ living rooms. Reporters visited households representing all relevant political parties and perspectives, transforming private spaces into micro-forums of democratic discussion. These pieces offered intimate, unfiltered insights into how politics is experienced far from traditional campaign stages.
On YouTube, Plan D introduced a reader–politician dialogue format, giving selected participants the chance to present their concerns directly to prominent political figures. The conversations were grounded in the issues readers had submitted to the database, turning abstract policy debates into concrete exchanges shaped by real experiences.
A second YouTube format widened participation further: an improvisational taxi talk show, in which the hosts offered free rides to strangers and engaged them in spontaneous political conversations. Without preselection or preparation, these encounters revealed problems, frustrations, and moments of creativity from people who might never otherwise appear in journalistic coverage.
Across all platforms, Plan D has published dozens of articles and podcasts inspired by the database entries and the individuals behind them. These stories identify recurring themes, illuminate systemic issues, and highlight citizen-driven ideas for improvement. By consistently connecting individual accounts to broader contexts, they demonstrate how everyday experiences can shape meaningful journalism.
Together, these outputs show how Plan D transforms reader participation into a multi-format journalistic ecosystem – one that amplifies diverse voices, fosters dialogue between citizens and decision-makers, and grounds reporting in the lived realities of people across Germany.