We have a favour to ask. Tens of thousands of people rely on Bella for independent journalism from Scotland with a critical edge.
We have no big-backers, remain ad-free and don’t hide behind a paywall. WE believe information should be free and access to journalism and information is needed now more than ever. We set our own agenda and provide analysis that’s free from commercial and political influence.
The funds will go towards improving and expanding our content, working with more writers and illustrators and doing more audio content (interviews and podcasts). Some of the money has to go to our ongoing hosting and tech support costs. There’s also small things that we’d like to improve on the site – like the sharing buttons should be updated to include Blue Sky and Mastodon not Reddit and Tumblr.
We want to host open workshops for new writers and continue to expand the voices being heard across Scotland. This is in line with our commitment to diversify the media in Scotland and to increase our engagement with people not well represented in mainstream media.
We also need to pay for secure hosting so that the website is defended against attacks and easy to access on all platforms. If successful here is a breakdown of some of the costs that funds would go towards:
£1500 digital infrastructure, web hosting, domain and technical support based on current costs.
£5,000 staff costs (editing and publishing). This would include time to work with young and new writers to develop their work.
£10,000 freelance costs (writers and artists).
£1000 writers workshops (we would have three face-to-face workshops in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen) to encourage and engage with unpublished writers and artists.
£2500 social media worker
We believe that with the media owned by the super wealthy and skewed far to the right, the need for a left-wing, progressive, ecologically-focused independent media is greater than ever. We have been fighting for independence – autonomy – self-determination since 2007 and we remain more committed to those ideas than ever. We will continue making the case for independence, but also critically exploring what this means and what change we can make now.
We exist only because you support us. We don’t have corporate backers and we don’t take advertising, so we rely entirely on your support. Please give whatever you can.
Support us here to defend Indy Media for the future.
Thank you.
Mike