Ethical monthly current affairs magazine New Internationalist has raised £200,000 in two weeks as it seeks to secure its future through crowdfunding.
Circulation of the Oxford-based magazine, which focuses on global poverty and development issues, currently stands at 25,000. It is currently owned co-operatively by its staff but under the crowdfunding plan, the new investors will also become shareholders.
Over 850 people have backed the funding campaign, which closes on 6 April and has a target of £500,000.
Actor Emma Thompson was among the first to invest, and other supporters include musicians Jarvis Cocker and Billy Bragg, and journalists George Monbiot and Lindsey Hilsum.
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Thompson said: “I’ve been reading the New Internationalist for years now and I really can trust the magazine to tell me what’s going on.
“It makes me feel much more connected to what’s really going on in the world and not what people want me to think is going on. I hope that thousands of people make a stand and choose to support the New Internationalist, and keep this unique, uniquely independent voice alive and kicking for the next 50 years.’”
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.
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“We want to scale up and get our stories out to more people than ever 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.’”
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