BEIJING: According to Jeremy Goldkorn, editor-in-chief of The China Project, one of the few separately funded English-language publications to provide in-depth coverage of China for American audiences, it will close due to financial constraints.
The China Project, which was formerly known as SupChina and started out as a newsletter in 2016, has grown to become” news and business intelligence company focused on helping one global audience understand China ,” according to its website.
Its products included the well-liked Sinica podcast with a China media and culture theme, articles on its website about various China-themed topics, the business intelligence information product” ChinaEDGE,” and conference planning.
Employees amounts also rose. But as with many online internet firms in recent years, like Buzzfeed News, finding funding became a challenge.
Goldkorn stated on the website,” The internet business is vulnerable.”
” This week, we discovered that a source of funding we had been depending on would no longer be available, and we were forced to make the hard choice to shut down.”
The business aimed to make” healthy” reporting on China and issues with a US-China theme. However, this drew condemnation as ties between the two forces deteriorated further.
According to Goldkorn,” We have frequently been charged in both nations with working for the other’s authorities.”
” Defending ourselves has resulted in significant legal expenses and, worse yet, has made it harder for us to find sponsors, ads, and buyers.” We are not yet able to rely on these profits to support our operations, despite the fact that our membership offerings have been steadily and strongly increasing.
Global media companies have used membership models to varying degrees of success.
According to a Reuters test, site visitors were also able to purchase” the internet’s best birds-eye view of China” as part of the China Project subscription package on Tuesday for US$ 120 per year.
Company CEO Bob Guterma told Reuters via internet that” We do not own a business model trouble.”
With the complete and nbsp support of our buyers, we boldly pursued our big plans. However, due to economic and political headwinds over the past six months, trader interest has sharply decreased. We lost the ability to maintain what we had become.