Merkurist modernises its technical infrastructure with fidion

The news portal Merkurist (Mainz/Wiesbaden) has chosen fidion’s fCMS to modernise its technical infrastructure and further expand community engagement.

Since its foundation in 2016, Merkurist has pursued a consistently digital approach to local journalism. At the heart of this is a close connection with its readership: users can suggest topics, submit tips, provide photos and videos, and thus actively contribute to the reporting.

With the fCMS, Merkurist will in future be relying on an innovative platform that simplifies editorial processes whilst simultaneously opening up new opportunities for community engagement – for example, through features for user-generated content and modules for modern audience engagement. The system also supports media-neutral content production and enables an end-to-end workflow from the initial topic idea through to publication on the website, mobile devices and other digital channels.

“By switching to the fCMS, we are laying the technical foundations for the next stage of Merkurist’s development,” says Matthias Willenbacher, Managing Director of Merkurist MaWi GmbH. “Our aim is to involve users even more closely in local journalism, make editorial processes more efficient and implement new digital offerings more quickly. In fidion, we have found a partner who understands our requirements and supports our long-term growth strategy.”

With around one million readers per month, Merkurist is one of the leading digital local news platforms in Rhineland-Palatinate. The introduction of the fCMS is intended to further develop existing participatory formats and create additional opportunities to actively involve the community in reporting.

fidion also sees forward-looking potential in the collaboration. “Merkurist and fidion share the conviction that good local journalism arises from dialogue with local people,” says Gerhard Schneider, Managing Director of fidion. “With the fCMS, we are providing the editorial team with a tool that treats reader engagement not as an add-on feature, but as an integral part of the editorial workflow. We are delighted to support Merkurist on this journey.”

The fCMS consolidates editorial work within a responsive interface that displays multiple content elements side by side and enables a seamless workflow from the initial idea through to publication across all channels – online, on mobile and in apps. This allows community submissions, editorial processing and the media-neutral distribution of the finished articles to mesh seamlessly.

The launch of the new service is planned for autumn 2026.