A letter to readers
To the readers who have stuck with Asia Sentinel for many years, we wanted to deliver a note of thanks, and to our thousands of new readers since we switched to a newsletter format earlier this year, we say greetings. It is quite gratifying to have grown remarkably in the new format and we welcome you all to keep reading our in-depth coverage of Asia.
Today we are introducing the ability for you to support Asia Sentinel’s independent journalism with subscriptions.
As of August 1, we will start publishing most of our stories behind a paywall. The paid version of Asia Sentinel will offer at least five updates a week, including continued commentary and analysis from me (John Berthelsen) and Philip Bowring plus reportage from our longtime correspondents who are spread across the region, offering news, analysis and opinion on national and regional issues in Asia. If you do not want to subscribe, you will still have access to stories that we choose to make widely available, but you will not be getting the full Asia Sentinel experience.
Your subscriptions will ensure we can continue to hold governments to account, to investigate the region’s most important political, economic, and cultural stories, and to provide the most thoughtful coverage of Asia in the English language. We can only do this with your support.
The subscription model aligns our interests with yours. Readers, not advertisers or interest groups, are our customers. Your direct support not only guarantees an ad-free news experience here at the Sentinel, but it also funds fearless reporting that is done in the service of citizens, shining a light on dark corners and exposing corruption. We are one of the only news outlets in Asia that remains independent of all governments and major media enterprises.
Independence matters. Over the years, our award-winning reporting include:
a series on the brutal murder of Malaysia woman Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006 by bodyguards assigned to Najib Tun Razak's office (which won the Excellence in Investigative Reporting at the 2013 Society of Publishers in Asia journalism awards)
a series on the unfolding political crisis in Thailand (which won the Excellence in Explanatory Reporting at the 2014 Society of Publishers in Asia journalism awards)
Please consider voting with your wallet to enable more of this kind of work.
Until July 31, all of our content will remain free. However, if you choose to subscribe before then, you can enjoy our charter rate of $10/month or $100/year. Our prices will increase in August. If you are a particularly strong believer in the work that Asia Sentinel does, you have the option to commit to a ‘Founding Member’ subscription at a higher rate than the standard options.
Thank you for all your support and readership so far. We are excited to enter this new phase of Asia Sentinel’s life, and we look forward to working for all of you.
- John Berthelsen and the Asia Sentinel team