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[Translate to English:] © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Citizen-media Platform

NRWision Looks back on its Achievements after 17 Years

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Photo: A camera operator films a seated group at a studio event. © Daniela Arndt
For 17 years, NRWision has provided citizens with a platform on which to make social topics visible.
For 17 years, the media project NRWision has been providing citizens in North Rhine-Westphalia with a professional platform – and thereby a public voice for their topics. Jointly launched in 2009 by the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) and TU Dortmund University, NRWision has been breaking records ever since and established itself as one of the most successful citizen-media platforms in Germany. In 2025, the platform – which by then had around 46,000 contributions in its media library – recorded more page views than ever before, and interest remains high in 2026 as well. The Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) has now announced that it will no longer fund the project from 2027 onwards.

“We thank the LfM for the extraordinarily long and successful collaboration and for working towards shared goals. In the current social situation, the importance of such a platform for democracy cannot be overstated,” says project director Prof. Michael Steinbrecher of the Institute of Journalism. “Despite the decision, we are deeply convinced that NRWision serves the protected participation of citizens, and we will therefore enter into talks with other potential cooperation partners in order to find ways of continuing this project in as many facets as possible.”

NRWision was launched in 2009 – back then still under the name “TV-Lernsender.NRW”. Since 2017, the project, which is based at the Institute of Journalism of TU Dortmund University, has not only broadcast video contributions on TV and online, but also publishes audio contributions in the eponymous media library. Citizens who have submitted their contributions to NRWision receive editorial and technical feedback on every contribution and can reach out to the editorial team with any questions. NRWision likewise reviews the contributions for media-law compliance and ensures that all producers have the option of integrating license fee-free music under GEMA regulations (Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights) into their contributions.

Photo: A person speaks in front of a seated audience in a lit studio.
The local discussion format “Lass uns reden” (“Let’s talk”) brings citizens together.
Photo: Several people stand in a room with technical equipment, monitors, and studio lights.
A new TV studio is currently being built on Campus Nord, where productions with students will be recorded in the future.
Photo: Several people work at desks with computers in an office.
The new editorial offices are located at Vogelpothsweg 74.
Photo: A group of people stands next to each other in a bright hall with a glass roof.
Part of the NRWision team around editor-in-chief Leonie Krzistetzko (left).

More than 1,500 groups and individuals have contributed their audio and video pieces to NRWision to date. Over the past 17 years, the media project has produced numerous in-house TV productions with students and citizens in NRW, including most recently the local discussion format “Lass uns reden” (“Let’s talk”), which brings citizens together and provides a stage for the topics that move them. Well-known personalities have also been guests on NRWision, among them journalists Christine Westermann, Sabine Heinrich and Manfred Breuckmann, as well as politicians such as Franz Müntefering, Nathanael Liminski and Hannelore Kraft.

“The goal of NRWision is to provide citizens with a safe space in which to try their hand at media work – free from hate speech and supported by a professional editorial team. This is particularly important in the current times,” says editor-in-chief Leonie Krzistetzko. This is one of the reasons why the media project is looking for prospects beyond 2026.

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