Coronavirus: The Citizen needs your support!

 

For the first time in its 12-year history, the Hackney Citizen is sad to have to announce that it will not be printing its monthly newspaper, due to the coronavirus crisis.

At a time when independent and trusted news is more important than ever, this was a difficult decision to make.

To a certain extent, our hand has been forced by circumstances. A number of increasingly stringent measures are rightly being put in place to tackle the virus and protect the most vulnerable in our community.

This includes people being asked to limit social contact, which brings with it real concerns for the health of those who pick up a copy of the paper every month, whether that’s readers, printers, distributors or stockists, many of whom are having to close their doors anyway.  

What this means is that the paper will have no print advertising, its major source of income, for the foreseeable future.

While we welcome the government’s financial interventions for organisations such as ours, these will not be available until April. We need your help now.

We are determined to keep putting out the news for Hackney residents through our website and social media feeds, and using our platform to share much needed information and debate.   

In order to do that, we’re appealing to your generosity.

A one-off donation from those of you who can afford it will go towards supporting our small team and funding our local journalism through this unprecedented crisis.  

By doing so, you’ll not only be helping us, but also those in isolation who want to keep up with what’s going on around them, at a time when staying connected to the community is vital.  

When Hackney and the wider world has fought off this virus and we return to some semblance of normality, the print edition will resume.  

Thanks in advance for your support, and stay safe.

The Hackney Citizen team