Forty-four-year-old UK magazine the New Internationalist today launched a £500,000 Crowdfunding campaign.
The money is needed to help the title relaunch and reinvent itself as it contends with dwindling print sales.
Circulation currently stands at 25,000, compared with a high point of 75,000 at the turn of the millennium.
The money will be used to relaunch the print edition, invest in online video and rejuvenate the title’s book publishing arm and its shop.
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The Oxford-based magazine, which focuses on global poverty and development issues, is currently owned co-operatively by its staff. Under the crowdfunding plan, the new investors will also have a stake.
The title said: “With the minimum investment level set at only £50, this opportunity to own the media is open to everyone. These shares are different from ordinary shares – they can’t be transferred or sold on. Investors have one vote, no matter how much they invest and, as co-owners, become stewards of New Internationalist’s mission into the future.”
New Internationalist co-editor Hazel Healy said: “We have always written about other people coming together to change things, now it’s our turn. It felt like we needed to do something big.
“Fear, and mistrust are rising all over the world, and misinformation along with them. Meanwhile, the media’s broken business model is making it harder than ever for independents like us to survive.
“We want to scale up and get our stories out to more than ever people before. Our slogan #FactsAndHeart says it all. This is journalism that has the power to bring people together. We think that is something worth buying into.”
On its first day the crowdfunding campaign it has already raised just under £40,000.
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