MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Nelson Mandela Bay… We’re Coming For You

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Editor’s Note: Scroll down to the bottom of this letter to click through to support. This is my voluntary contribution to keeping journalism free for millions. BTW – I routinely get offered (and routinely turn down) $300 and more for one hyperlink from MyPE to other web sites needing an authoritative link to kick start their SEO.

Dear Nelson Mandela Bay

I head up “growth” at Daily Maverick and my mandate is to secure funding to keep journalism alive, keep our journalists paid and to grow our newsroom by hiring more journalists. Every day (and I’m not exaggerating), every day, there is a new desperate need that requires our attention. For years we have been trying to secure funding for a very special project that has the potential to completely change South Africa for the better.

We want to open dedicated Daily Maverick newsrooms in the 10 biggest metros in the country. Why? Well, simply put, because there is only a small number of journalists in these metros and none of them is showcasing their work on a national platform that is read by the most influential people in the country.

If you’re wondering why service delivery remains so bad in the municipality you live in, it’s because there are too few journalists holding the municipality to account, no journalists checking if your mayor is actually going to work and no journalists to report on the latest service delivery failure.

In the past six months alone I have had about 60 meetings, sent hundreds of emails and performed PowerPoint corporate mating rituals for big businesses, high-net-worth individuals and grant funders to try to launch the first bureau in Nelson Mandela Bay. A handful of local businesses have come on board.

They see that good journalism is good for business. They care about their city, their province and their country. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to launch this world-first initiative.

We want to launch this local newsroom with a full-time team of 10 who will hold power to account and investigate crime and corruption, who will report on the problems but also all the incredible good-news stories emanating from the province, and they’ll do this while producing a dedicated (free) daily newsletter for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay. And we will make it part of the national agenda.

Sadly, I’ve just received the latest “rejection” email from a corporate, saying: “We’re sorry but our funding is all tied up for this year. Maybe next year.”

Next year, local government elections will be held.

The more informed the public are with free access to journalism, the more likely we are to see impact in these elections. We can’t wait until next year. YOU and your loved ones can’t wait until next year. So I’m turning to our readers – who I probably should have asked first.

Do you want a dedicated, crack squad of Daily Maverick journos in Nelson Mandela Bay?

If you do, then help us.

By signing up as a Maverick Insider member your voluntary monthly contribution will go directly to paying these journalists’ salaries.

If 1,000 of you reading this contribute R100 a month to this initiative, or 1,330 of you contribute R75 per month, then we will be able to start recruiting as early as next week.

Nelson Mandela Bay deserves better than what you are getting. Corporate South Africa have made their message clear: if we want to see change, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.

Daily Maverick is in. Are you?

Fran Beighton

Head of Growth, Daily Maverick

LINK to SUPPORT NMB Journalists

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This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.