Membership: the evolution that journalism needs
The membership model in the context of a newsroom confuses most people when they first hear about it. The conversation is usually a version of this: “What extra content will the member receive?”
“None.”
“Will they get discounts on lots of third-party suppliers?”
“No, it’s not a loyalty programme like that.”
“What kind of loyalty programme is it?” “The kind where those who can afford to pay for our journalism do, so that those who can’t afford it don’t have to. It’s the kind of loyalty that really matters; our readers want to see us keep going so they’ll contribute to make sure we can. And will keep our content free for everyone.”
“I’m not sure that’s going to work. People aren’t going to pay for a free service.”
“We have a hunch that people will surprise you.”
The hunch was right. When we first pitched the idea in late 2017, after years of looking around, Harry finally met Sally. Membership is different from a pure donation ask (on the left) and paywall solution (on the right). Sitting somewhere in the middle, membership is a social contract underpinned by community and relationship building. It’s not a transactional exchange; membership is changing how journalism works. It may just be the great disruptor to an industry that has been stagnating for too long waiting for a magic wand to make the financial fears go away.
Fundamentally, journalism needs to move from the broadcasting nature of “we know everything” to a community-focused collaboration where newsrooms leverage off the expertise of their readers. It brings journalism more into line with the people it serves – the people formerly known as the audience. Only by creating value in their eyes will they reward us with their input, knowledge and, in some cases, their cash. Creating value can only be possible if we understand their needs. We’ve worked hard on this and so far almost 15,000 people have rewarded us by contributing in a number of ways. They’ve done so by:
Telling us our book title choices suck – and offering up better ones – for the book division that they helped launch.
Helping us launch the newspaper you’re holding because of the confidence we have in their support and writing a weekly Insider
Expert column for it too.
Collaborating with our engagement editor, Ferial Haffajee, on electricity investigations and a dedicated lockdown newsletter (which is just the beginning of our crowdsourced investigative aspirations).
Volunteering their time: we have two comment moderators who work all week ensuring that our comment platform for members is what we want and need it to be – a space for robust debate and not a haven for wayward trolls.
Contributing recipes to our TGIF newsletter during lockdown and stories to Maverick Life like the latest Love, Unstoppable series.
Informing our webinars with their pre-submitted questions and topic suggestions. Personally participating in our Insider Expert webinar when we needed their expertise the most: in the eye of the Covid storm we welcomed Maverick Insiders Professor Wolfgang Preiser and Dr Indira Govender, who spoke to Maverick Citizen’s Mark Heywood about the status of the pandemic and answered their fellow Insiders’ questions live.
Pitching ideas and taking part in our annual conference, The Gathering. This year Sarah Powell, an advocate with a wealth of expertise in anti-bribery and corruption in the private sector, pitched the topic of Big Business’s Big Responsibility and delivered arguably one of the most engaging sessions of the day.
Membership is just one way media houses are pivoting after the great disruption. It’s not the only way that is proving to be financially successful; it’s the way that resonates with the kind of organisation we want to be, and are starting to become; one that puts public service and the needs of readers at the forefront of our efforts – and certainly not behind a paywall. In a country where so many have access to so little, we couldn’t have it any other way.