Dear readers and supporters,
This is a momentous week for the National Observer: we are celebrating our first anniversary, and we’re introducing digital subscriptions.
Since we launched the National Observer, our commitment to you has been to produce high quality journalism that goes where other publications cannot. I’m proud to say that our reports have exposed energy, climate, and political issues that are critical to Canada and the future of our planet. Our stories have led to policy shifts and helped alter the course of our history.
The positive reaction from our audience has been overwhelming. Thousands of readers like you have joined our experiment in trying a different type of journalism. A journalism based on values, based on asking critical questions, based on focusing on the stories that matter.
That’s why 2000+ people have backed our Kickstarter campaigns, like Reports from the Race Against Climate Change. And just last month we got nominated for 4 prestigious awards by the Canadian Association of Journalists, and the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Award (for overall excellence.)
We cannot contain our excitement about such a successful year, so thank you for your commitment to this project.
For us, celebrating a first anniversary means that we’re just getting started. We’ve decided that the best way to continue producing our stories and strengthen our role in Canada’s media landscape is to introduce digital subscriptions, starting on May 27th.
Here’s how it will work. If you’re a casual reader (less than 2 articles per month), your experience will remain the same. If you’re a regular reader (more than 2 articles per month), we’re inviting you to become a yearly or monthly subscriber so you have unlimited access to our stories. We’ve found that many of our regular readers already donate regularly and support our campaigns, so becoming a subscriber will be a way to structure and continue that support.
Please note that this does not change our commitment to access and inclusion. We will have a special subscription option we'll be offering later this summer for students and readers with low income. Moreover, people who don’t wish to buy a subscription will be able to purchase individual articles.
We hope that you see our subscriptions as an investment in democracy, and as an opportunity to act together as a community to continue holding industry and government accountable for a better future. Our world needs these stories, and these stories need you.
As Amy Goodman said on a video that went viral recently, “We need a media that covers power, not covers for power. We need a media that is the fourth estate, not for the state. And we need a media that covers the movements that create static and make history.”
Thank you for a spectacular first year. And let’s continue building our future together.
Linda Solomon Wood, Editor-in-Chief, National Observer
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