Two new sources of support for journalists during the coronavirus pandemic

Six months of free ghost(pro) for laid-off journalists

Yesterday, I started exploring the options for getting your own membership site up and running quickly. With the industry contracting quickly and layoffs of journalists happening around the world, there's scope for some of them to sustain themselves through setting up their own niche publication. I'm working up something more detailed on that, but I started researching it and realised you could get a Ghost-based membership site up and running for about $15 and $5 per month of recurring costs.

It's not going to take many paying members to cover those costs…

However, John O'Nolan, Ghost founder, came back with an even better offer for laid off journalists:

So, yes, if you have just lost your job, have an idea for a site that you could get people to pay to support, head over to Ghost, sign up for a free trial, and drop John a line.

As a bonus, if you want a sounding board, or some free advice on audience engagement, drop me a line, too.

Applications open for the European Journalism Covid-19 Support fund

Update 24th April 2020: This is now closed.

With the majority of Europe in lockdown, local news and information is never been as important as it is right now - just as advertising revenue dries up for local and hyperlocal sites. The European Journalism Centre (EJC) and the Facebook Journalism Project (FJP)  launched a $3 million fund to support hundreds of community, local and regional European news organisations.

Freelancers and small publications were elegible to apply - the big corporates were not.

More details here:

Informed communities need journalists.

The European Journalism Centre and the Facebook Journalism Project have launched a $3m USD fund to support news organisations and journalists during the COVID-19 crisis.

European Journalism Covid-19 Support Fund

Deadline for applications was Friday 24th April.