After his dismissal most of the journalists and editorial staff quit Index.

They launched Telex at the start of October with help of donations from some 42,000 readers, and with Dull’s former deputy Veronika Munk as chief editor.

Following the expiry of the ban on working for an Index competitor, Dull is joining the website as co-chief editor alongside Munk.

The editorial staff gave a vote of confidence to the two leaders.

The two editors published a statement on Monday declaring they share the same values as they did when at Index: they want to produce a news website that is “non-opposition, nor pro-government, but represents fair, critical and curious journalistic values”.

The guarantee of independence, they added, is that the owners of the website are mostly the editors and journalists.

They indicated that they would like to start an internship programme, hire more proofreaders and rural correspondents, and launch podcasts and blogs.