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A Letter from the HotNews CEO: We Are Introducing Paid Content. An agreement with The New York Times

Răzvan Ionescu, the CEO of the company that publishes HotNews, released a public letter on Wednesday, May 6, announcing that „next week we are launching HotNews Premium, a project built on paid content –  journalism supported by readers.” Here are his arguments.

  • Readers who subscribe to HotNews Premium on an annual plan will also receive, as part of the package, unlimited one-year access to everything The New York Times has to offer.
  • Each day, a selection of articles on the site will be available exclusively to HotNews Premium members. The rest of the content will remain freely accessible, as before. HotNews publishes approximately 100 articles per day.

I’m Răzvan Ionescu, and I am writing to you as CEO and minority shareholder of the company that publishes HotNews.

I have had the privilege of working first as a journalist and later as a manager or founder at newsrooms and media outlets, including Evenimentul Zilei, Gazeta Sporturilor, Adevărul, and Recorder.

Much like democracy, I firmly believe that the press is the worst form of information, except for all the other methods that have been tried throughout history.

It was with this conviction that we invested in HotNews in September 2022, alongside Dragoș Vîlcu, who is the majority shareholder. I had a background in media; he did not. Dragoș became the owner of HotNews after building Multi Media Est (MME) as a film producer and entrepreneur, a video production and post-production company that operates on both the national private market and internationally.

At HotNews, as an independent news outlet, we live off what we produce. We provide a public service, we want to do better for our readers. It is a service the entire country needs, and that can only happen together.

What we are launching

I am writing to let you know that, within the next few days, HotNews will align itself with the international model in which journalism no longer relies solely on advertising revenue.

Next week, we are launching HotNews Premium, a project based on paid content, meaning journalism supported by readers. Before we do, we feel it is our duty to share some information and ideas with our audience.

Every major publication in the world counts „audience revenue” among its income streams. Our vision is that we must invest in journalism to continue strengthening the public service we provide. Supporting HotNews journalism is therefore a priority for us as investors. The company maintains a healthy profitability rate, one that ensures the institution’s long-term sustainability and gives shareholders the motivation to continue.

HotNews sees itself the same way it sees the country and society it serves. We do not say one thing and do another. We believe in efficiency. We support economic rationality, including within communities. When it comes to HotNews journalism, only a sound and efficient business can preserve our ability to produce quality content news, investigations, features, and analysis.

The HotNews – New York Times agreement

Starting next week, HotNews will publish a selection of articles each day that will be readable exclusively by HotNews Premium members, readers who choose to financially support our journalism by subscribing either monthly or annually. These articles will carry the „HotNews Premium” label. The majority of HotNews content will remain freely accessible to all readers.

Readers who subscribe for a full year will also receive, as part of their package, unlimited one-year access to The New York Times, the world’s largest publication, with which HotNews has signed an agreement. Further details about HotNews Premium will be announced in the coming days.

Why we are doing this

We have been thinking about this model for several years. We have paid close attention to the evolving business models around the world and, in particular, across Central and Eastern Europe. We have been working in earnest on this premium product for over a year. We have studied international models, especially those from countries in our region, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

Everything we’ve seen in news publishing over the past ten years shows that serious, high-quality journalism remains vital to the health of any rule-of-law society and that this kind of journalism cannot develop sustainably on advertising revenue alone.

HotNews has invested heavily in journalism in recent years. Even so, a newsroom of 40 journalists cannot do miracles in the service of society. To consistently cover all matters of public interest and to bring clarity to the major issues on both the domestic and international agenda, we need to generate additional resources for growth.

What comes after the HotNews Premium launch

One more important thing must be said: Romanian journalism has been struggling for many, many years. At the same time, many journalists do their job faithfully, professionally, and with full integrity. The public and many honest professionals in the field deserve more than to be left with a simulacrum of journalism, one that offers only a distorted understanding of reality.

Alongside our commitment to continuously raising our journalistic standards, here are a few directions we plan to pursue in the period immediately following the launch of HotNews Premium:

  • We will give readers an ever-greater voice, introducing and strengthening channels for reader engagement and interaction.
  • We will increase our level of transparency, communicating our editorial plans, management and shareholder vision, audience metrics, and financial results more clearly.
  • We will publicly disclose the rules, decisions, and results related to our commercial partnerships, including advertising revenue figures and income from political advertising in the 2024 and 2025 election years. 
  • We will diversify our content offering beyond news, features, analysis, investigations, and opinion.

We are fully aware that the process we are setting in motion with this statement of intent and principles holds us to an even higher standard. It is a long road. We will earn your support only by demonstrating that we are moving steadily closer to the Western benchmarks of journalism in the public interest.

We begin this journey with a sense of excitement and with the same belief in this wonderful profession we have always held. We will walk it together, as we have throughout these more than 25 years of HotNews.

With all my gratitude,

Răzvan Ionescu CEO / Publisher, HotNews.ro