SXM Today / Funding
How we’re funded
SXM Today is free to read, with no paywall. This page says who pays for it, so you can check we’re keeping the promise.
Where the money comes from — right now, nowhere
SXM Today has no advertisers and no funders. It is paid for out of our owner’s pocket while we get it off the ground.
Nobody has bought influence here, because there is nobody to buy it. No advertiser, no donor, no political party, no government department has put money into this site.
The plan is to fund it with advertising from local businesses. When that starts, this page changes the same day and we’ll say who’s buying. We won’t take money from political parties or candidates, and we won’t run pay-to-publish stories. Anything paid for will be labelled Sponsored before you read it — see our editorial standards.
Conflicts we should tell you about
Our owner runs other businesses on the island, and some of those relationships overlap with companies we’d eventually like to sell advertising to. Nothing has been sold yet; the overlap is real.
What it doesn’t buy: no advertiser sees a story before publication, influences how it’s written, or gets one taken down. If we ever cover a business our owner has an interest in, we’ll say so in the story itself.
Why there’s no paywall
On an island this size, the news that matters most — a storm coming, a power cut, a road closed, what a minister just decided — is exactly the news that shouldn’t depend on whether you can afford a subscription.
We’re committing to our own publishing decisions: the news stays open. We’re not promising a business will exist forever, because nobody honestly can. If we ever add something paid on top — an event, a premium newsletter — the news itself doesn’t move behind it.
Read our full free-to-read pledge
The pledgeEvery story we publish is free to read — today, tomorrow, for good. No meter, no paywall, no locked articles, ever, for anyone on this island or off it. We pay for this with advertising and sponsorships from local businesses who believe an informed island is good for everyone. If we ever add something paid on top — an event, a premium newsletter — the news itself doesn’t move behind it. That’s the pledge. We publish our funding here so you can check we’re keeping it.