Click on the mug to buy us a cup of coffee
We don’t need much. Honestly! But we do need a minimum amount to keep CNS going, and if all our regular readers donated enough to buy us a latte each now and again, it would really help.
To everyone who has put a little something in the CNS Tip Jar, we say a huge ‘Thank you’, especially those who have made this a monthly donation. It truly warms our hearts!
Because, while our news is free to read, it’s not free to produce. At CNS we cut expenses down to a minimum. We don’t have a flashy office (actually no office at all) and we don’t drive fancy cars. But sadly, we still need to live and pay our bills.
When online news first appeared, most of it was free. But now reliable local news outlets, and even big international media houses, are in trouble the world over and having to change their business model, increasingly relying on funding by their readers. If you’re in the habit of reading news from elsewhere, you’ll have noticed that news websites are increasingly putting all or part of their content behind a paywall. The exceptions to this tend to be highly partisan publications receiving funding from rich backers.
Since the first newspapers were printed in the 17th Century, news has relied on advertising to support it. But these days, massive global companies like Google (plus YouTube) and Facebook not only accelerate the distribution of fake news and absurd conspiracy theories, they are also increasingly gobbling up marketing budgets. The message of ‘shop local’ doesn’t seem to include advertising.
We don’t think a paywall will work in the Cayman Islands — there just aren’t enough people. And anyway, we want all those people who disagree with us to continue reading our sites and engage in discussion in the comment section. There’s no debate if everyone agrees, and although it gets contentious at times, that’s what makes democracy work. One of the problems with everyone getting their news just from Facebook, especially government-sponsored pages, is that they all end up in their various silos. Whatever your political slant, that’s not good.
When we launched CNS, we knew we couldn’t pander to either big business or whatever government was in power. For us, there is just no point in doing what we do if we have to compromise our ethics. Good for our souls, not so good for our bank balance.
So we need your help, those of you who love us and appreciate the coverage we give to topics that would otherwise be buried — and we are hoping that you can find your way to leaving a tip and support local journalism.
There are other ways to help. You can help us and help your own business by advertising on the CNS website, and you can find our price lists here.
It would help if you just shared our articles with friends, family and co-workers.
If you have any messages, comments or suggestions for CNS, email info@caymannewsservice.com
And to all our supporters, we love you, too!
Wendy and Nicky