Dear readers! 

Is it worth explaining to you how difficult it is for an information service, which promised its readers to put the interests of society above all else, to keep its word while struggling for survival?!

Not because telling the truth, arguing and proving is dangerous. Above all because it is very expensive.

Everything we do is costly - investigations, analytics, traveling to conflict zones to get first-hand accounts, and even routine fact-checking in a smoothly running disinformation factory. We try to do our job faithfully because we see that you need it. You have the right to know not only what is happening, but also the essence of change, the reason for events, and we can tell you a lot of interesting and important things about them.

There is one honest way to survive in the current difficult conditions, when the way to the underdeveloped advertising market is closed for independent publications, and the support of politically neutral sources remains unavailable - it is the transition to paid content, existence at the expense of funds invested by readers themselves. This is the system we are going to switch to, which is used in many countries of the world.

Before introducing it, we consulted with various categories of readers and conducted focus group surveys. Our interlocutors asked us questions that you may also have. We will try to answer the main ones:

“Why should I pay for website materials when I have already paid for Internet access”?

The money you pay each month for Internet access is far more than you pay for an annual subscription to the site. At the same time, we, as content creators, receive nothing from the income of Internet providers. On the contrary, we ourselves pay them at a “commercial rate” a much higher amount than ordinary readers, because we are a “legal entity” and, serving a wide audience, need a dedicated high-speed line.

“Why should I pay when I can read news on other sites for free”? 

Sure, there are many free news sources on the market. But go to the Pressklub.az website and you will see that we do “different journalism” - our authors analyze events, spend many days searching for answers to the questions “why?”, “what does it do?” or “what is the threat?”, talk to experts, research documents, look for solutions to problems, and discover new topics that you won't find in other media. Articles of this type are for the thinking reader, their preparation requires much more effort and expense. That's why we ask readers to make a small contribution so that we can continue to produce high quality products, expand the topics and the range of authors. As for regular news, it will continue to be free on Pressklub.az, but analytical, exclusive materials will be accessible only to subscribers. 

“What about people who can't afford to pay for a subscription? 

We consider the price we set as fair, in fact low (1 cup of coffee a month - and that costs more). But we realize that different people have different circumstances, and we will do our best to provide access to as many readers as possible. That is why we have set such a discount for subscription until the end of the year - only 1 manat per month. And in the future we think to keep the discount system for students and pensioners. However, if your personal circumstances do not allow you to pay even this price, please write to us at [email protected], we will try to find a solution. You can also send any questions you may have about subscribing to the same address.

The Press Club website will switch to a paid system starting May 6. The news, as we have already mentioned, will remain publicly available, and only subscribers will be able to read exclusive materials in the future. We very much hope that this, one can say, forced innovation will not separate us from any of our loyal readers. 

Subscription rules can be found on the main page of the site, in the upper right corner. It's a space we've held for advertisers for five years. Now our advertisers are only you!

Arif Aliyev,

Head of Baku Press Club