The Shift’s Financials: Taking a stand for transparency

The Shift is our readers’ project – you. A start-up independent investigative journalism outlet born from the ashes of Malta’s post-16 October 2017 media landscape.

We are firm believers in full transparency of media ownership and other interests including main sources of revenue. We are likewise staunch defenders of our independence from government and partisan political interests, thanks to our development of a hybrid business model that relies on diverse revenue streams.

Since this is your project, we believe that we are solely accountable to you and that you deserve full transparency of our ownership and funding.

Who knows, maybe other media houses will one day follow our lead.

This information is based on our most recent audited financial statements (2019) and will be updated each year.

Funding sources

This chart speaks for itself.

During the financial year ended 31 December 2019, The Shift’s total income was €120,218. This can be split up as follows (figures are rounded):

55% (€66,574) from international journalism and press freedom grants.
31% (€37,908) from thousands of our loyal readers.
13% (€15,045) from our fundraising events.
1% (€690) from advertising (Google Ads).

We are proud that 0% (€0) of our income for the year comes from the Maltese government, political parties or politicians. And we aim to keep it that way.

We are funded by you, our loyal readers, and the organisations (including the EU) that aim to safeguard your right to know by funding good, hard-hitting journalism. We are eternally grateful.

The support funded our efforts on investigations into Electrogas, Vitals Global Healthcare, data leak from the Lands Authority, Streamcast and more.

Our heartfelt thanks also to our volunteers, whose time and contribution would, if translated into Euro, more than treble our ‘income’. You know who you are and we are grateful.

Running a newsroom isn’t cheap and this year we also incurred a number of (hopefully) one-off expenses such as a refresh of the website. All revenue generated by The Shift is invested in journalism.

Ownership

The Shift is owned and operated by Tula Ltd, a Maltese company wholly beneficially owned by our hard-working managing editor, Caroline Muscat, who was awarded the international Reporters Without Borders Prize for Independence in the same year. The aim is to transfer ownership of The Shift to a foundation to be set up to manage it in the public interest.