Singapore independent news site The Middle Ground launches 2017 fundraiser
Independent Singapore news website The Middle Ground has launched a campaign to raise money to sustain its coverage for the next year.
TMG, which was co-founded by former Straits Times journalist Bertha Henson and Right Hook Communications executive Daniel Yap in June last year after their previous website The Breakfast Network shut down, is hoping to generate $15,000 per month to keep going in a market that has never been easy for media outlets producing independent coverage of local news.
This amount the company says is only a portion of its expenses, with the rest to come from advertising. TMG has nine permanent staff and editorial salaries alone (excluding freelancers) exceed $40,000 a month.
“We hope to show that there is demand for balanced, independent, high quality news and views in Singapore,” said Daniel Yap, publisher of The Middle Ground. “It’s something society needs and yet it has always been a struggle to find a sustainable model for it.”
TMG is offering a variety of donation options through the Patreon campaign, including the chance for a reader to have their name written on the office wall as part of a S$25 a month donation.
In a video to accompany the campaign, Yap and Henson talk about the stories TMG has covered since launching, which include the 2015 General Elections, how banks are mishandling personal data, and the Shuqun Sec bullying scandal.
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