It's been the year of the cyberattack. In August, two key departments of the Berlin Senate were hacked by a ransomware group that went on to release over five terabytes of employee data — medical records, sick leave certificates, disability claims, bank account info, passports. A few months later, a hacked archive of 421,179 internal AfD party emails were released to the public, exposing the widespread antisemitism and violent fantasies of the far-right group (think, Christmas card with a swastika). Now the data raids are going after high-profile Berlin establishments.
HEIST is a worker-owned online magazine, founded by writers and editors who after years working across Berlin's media landscape believed something essential was missing.
Anyone living here has felt a growing gap between the city as it actually is and the version being served up by mainstream outlets. We experienced that disconnect firsthand. We saw political censorship shape coverage decisions and felt the weight of billionaire ownership land directly on our work. It reached a point where we could either keep going along with it, or try to build something better.
That's why we created HEIST.
And look at you: scrolling, clicking, squinting at blurred text just to get a little further. If you'll go to that much effort to read HEIST, you can surely give us one email. That's the whole price, and the rest of the story is right behind it.
Real journalism costs money. We commission the hard-hitting, well-reported, long-form work everyone wants to read but nobody seems to publish anymore.
The future of this city is still in the balance. We intend to be part of that struggle. We hope that you'll join us.
