When I joined openDemocracy as the new Editor in Chief at the ripe old age of 31, I didn’t exactly have a fully-formed plan. I hoped that we could do important journalism and I knew that, somehow, I needed to find enough cash to keep us afloat. (No mean feat in 2014, with most media business models already in deep crisis.) I wrote somewhat optimistically at the time: “To inspire people to action, you need to offer them hope – and no matter how unsurmountable a problem seems, hope can always be found if you look hard and think creatively enough.”
I still passionately believe this. And now, stepping down almost seven years later, it seems at least some of that early optimism was justified.
Thanks to persistence, brilliant colleagues, a bit of luck and the backing of thousands of readers, we've managed to build a team across four continents. We’ve become multilingual (Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic). Our journalism has changed the law, won court cases, prompted action from lawmakers and tech giants. It’s become the subject of a bestselling book. It has lifted voices from parts of the world where even speaking can be an act of resistance, and provided a vital space for pluralist debate. We’ve pioneered feminist investigative journalism – yes, that is a thing, and we’re changing the media with it.
