Support the Launch of UNTOLD News Network

Untold News Network: Unleashing the power of untamed, unfiltered journalism

Are you tired of the repetitive narratives pushed by traditional media? Do you long for authentic, diverse perspectives from underrepresented communities and individuals that so often go overlooked? If so, join us in supporting the launch of Untold, a groundbreaking news network that aims to disrupt independent freelance journalism as we know it.

Untold will be a news media that takes journalism as a democratic function very seriously. A news media with a reporting approach that aims to enrich the existing landscape of in-depth, visually-rich investigative and solutions journalism. A news media that produces powerful stories about important societal and environmental issues with a focus on the Global South or other underrepresented communities around the world by emerging and award-winning journalists whose pitches weren’t picked up by major news media due to editorial filters and agendas.

A collective of journalists disrupting traditional editorial processes

The development of Untold is currently spearheaded by Central America-based, British-Australian freelance journalist and founder of Solutions Journalism Without Borders Stephanie Capper, who is in the process of facilitating a collective of independent journalists from around the world to provide a powerful, reputable platform for tenacious freelance journalists to unleash the power of untamed, unfiltered journalism and disrupt traditional editorial processes.

Put simply? Untold will be a digital and social news media network that will tell stories you were never going to hear - produced by journalists who care deeply about their craft. No matter what the cost.

Our Values:

✅ Diversity: The core of Untold’s mission is carving out space in the media landscape to honour the diverse voices of freelance journalists from and working in the Global South. We will intentionally celebrate the diversity of the global journalism community by centering underrepresented stories and combating exploitative journalistic practices. To provide a holistic view of the world's most pressing issues we will focus on journalists who partner with communities and respect unique needs and narratives through thoughtful storytelling.

✅ Transparency and accountability: We believe in transparency, and that's why we're committed to disclosing our funding sources, editorial decisions, and journalistic processes. You deserve to know how and why we tell the stories we do.

✅ Substance and Impact: We are committed to uncovering stories that often remain hidden, ignored, or suppressed - whether that's intentional or not. This could include coverage of an underreported crisis, responses to problems that challenge the ‘single story’ of a community, or untold tales of resilience. We bring you narratives that matter and engage readers from start to finish. Using fascinating storytelling and immersive, visual-first production, we focus on quality and depth over quantity, always asking: how does this story meaningfully or positively contribute to the world?

Why We Need Your Support:

Until now, Untold has been a labour of love, driven by Untold co-founders and the passion of freelance journalists who too often utilize their own financial resources to tell stories that matter. But to help make Untold’s vision a reality, we need your help.

Your financial support will:

✅ Empower Freelance Journalists: By contributing to Untold, you provide freelance journalists with a platform to share their vital stories, supporting their work and livelihood.

✅ Facilitate Honest Reporting: With the help of neutral donors, we can maintain our commitment to unbiased journalism, as free as possible from editorial influence.

✅ Expand Our Reach: Your support enables us to reach more readers through the allocation of funding to marketing and promotional strategies, amplifying the impact of the stories we tell and inspiring change around the world.

Where your money will go:

✅ Administrative costs: Website domain purchase and renewal, branding optimisation, and digital marketing costs etc. We will keep such costs as low as possible to help every cent go further.

✅ Legal: The costs of establishing Untold as a non-profit news media, as well as allocating a small reserve for legal support in case of any lawsuits regarding the publication of investigative stories to protect our freelance journalists.

✅ Staff stipends: A total €1500 per month for a small team of 3 people for the first 3 months after Untold’s launch* (to be distributed equally between staff)

✅ And most importantly, payment for publishing freelance journalists: We refuse to publish journalism for free. The journalist behind each feature story (1000 - 1500 words) published on our website (which is coming soon!) will be remunerated with €300-400. Our goal is to publish 10x feature articles by the end of 2024.

*if the Untold team is comprised of less than 3 people, those stipends will go towards the publication of additional feature stories.

Like our concept? Here's what YOU get out of it:

✅ Digital Thank You Card & Early Bird Access (up to €50): Receive a personalised digital thank-you card expressing our gratitude for your support.

✅ Access to a Journalism Masterclass (€50 and up): Enjoy an exclusive invite to a virtual journalism masterclass with experienced journalists on the Untold team, where you can learn the ropes of investigative journalism and reporting, gain deeper insights into the journalism profession and enjoy new networking opportunities.

✅ Exclusive e-magazine (€100 and up): Receive a bi-yearly e-magazine containing a note from the Untold co-founders, behind-the-scenes updates, in-depth articles.

✅ Limited-Edition Merchandise (€200 and up): Receive your choice of a custom-made Untold merchandise such as T-shirts, mugs, posters or limited-edition notebooks.

✅ Limited-Edition Prints (€400 and up): Receive limited-edition prints of impactful photographs or artwork featured in Untold’s news articles, signed by the photographer or artist.

✅ Name in Credits (€500 and up): Sponsor an Untold story and we’ll include the names of contributors in a special "Thank You" section on our website to credit you for helping us get our first catalogue of Untold stories published!

Every contribution, no matter how big or small, takes us one step closer to changing the news media landscape and rewriting the journalism narrative.

Let's make history together. Let's unleash the power of untamed, unfiltered journalism.

Thank you for your support!

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: @Untold.Network

Website: Coming soon!