In the same way that the Covid-19 crisis has brought death, misery and economic devastation everywhere, it has hit The Sofia Globe – like many other media around the world – very hard. Very hard, so as to imperil our survival.
This is being written, in part, for those who expect relevant, accurate and timely news for free, for those who mistakenly believe us to be a Facebook page, open to freewheeling comment irrespective of content. And it is being written in tribute to those who understand that such things, traditional telling of news in line with professional standards, represent something of value.
Bereft, individually, of private wealth, lacking in large measure of advertising support and never having had access to oodles of foreign funding, and in turn in the same way that we abjure the coin of politicians whether in power or not, The Sofia Globe team has soldiered on to convey, in as accurate and objective manner as possible, the facts about the Covid-19 crisis. As we have, for more than eight years, about every other story of relevance.
For the sake of continuing to cover, as best we can, this crisis, we opened a Patreon account a few months ago.
It has been one of the few strategies we have had at our disposal to remain online and to remain posting the most immediate and important stories, seven days a week. Not only about Covid-19; about the stories that have an immediate connection to the lives of our readers.
We are grateful to those who have have understood the import of this, who are willing to commit a few euro, dollars or pounds a month to continue to read our coverage, to continue to keep alive journalism that has no ties to state, government, power or political party.
Beyond that, what we ask and what we offer, is not only the close to 20 000 stories we have online, but the select coverage and analysis available exclusively to our Patreon subscribers willing to stump up less than the money that, once upon a time, they would have dropped in coins to a newspaper seller. Yes, close to 20 000 stories; of which just a few dozen are behind a “paywall”.
Those who post on Facebook “I doN’t UnderstaND Why I should Pay to REad this,” we brush off as a lost cause, their comprehension of any language as poor as their grasp of language or any other higher concept. Why should anyone, after all, pay for labour, or food, or cat litter?
We wish them well, as they, as we do, presumably get food for free. Those of us who, in fact, do not get food, or any other commodity, for free, welcome all the support, via Patreon and other means, of those who regard the hard work of seven-days-a-week independent journalism as having some value, and as being worthy of survival.
Below, there is a button. It opens the way to supporting a cause, one which we, The Sofia Globe team, awake every morning to pursue. Join us in that cause.
