Maldives Independent is an award-winning, staff-owned Maldivian newsroom with a 20-year legacy of fearless, independent journalism. Founded in 2004 as Minivan News, it was one of the country’s first online newspapers and became internationally recognised for its public-interest reporting, earning the Index on Censorship Press Freedom Prize in 2017. Its archive remains one of the Maldives’ most valuable records of political and social history.
The publication has endured significant challenges, including the abduction of journalist Ahmed Rilwan in 2014 and the assassination of contributor Yameen Rasheed in 2017, cases that remain unresolved. Despite these risks, the newsroom has continued to train and develop journalists who now work with global media, including Al Jazeera, Reuters, the BBC, Foreign Policy, The Financial Times, OCCRP and Himal Southasian.
After a five-year hiatus, Maldives Independent relaunched in February 2025, rebuilding from scratch in a small and politically polarised media market. Today, it operates as a fully reader-supported newsroom and remains the country’s only independent outlet not aligned with political or business interests. Blending daily reporting, investigations, explainers, podcasts and multimedia storytelling, it connects local stories to regional and global audiences while focusing on accountability journalism, civic literacy and public-interest reporting in a context where independence is costly and trust is fragile.
Memberships for individuals and institutions launched in November 2025 as part of a broader strategy to secure long-term sustainability without compromising editorial independence. Maldives Independent joined the IPI Local News Accelerator to address a central challenge: how to build financial sustainability without compromising editorial independence.
During the programme, the team focused on two key priorities:
- Launching a membership model aligned with their mission
- Strengthening audience research and engagement systems to create a more intentional relationship between journalism and product development
“We were initially skeptical about launching membership. Knowing the Maldivian media landscape, we feared people would not financially support independent journalism. Through audience research and ongoing discussions with our IPI coach, we learned how to communicate our mission more clearly and confidently. Having someone external challenge our assumptions was invaluable”, said Nur Thoufeeq, the CEO of Maldives Independent.
1. Membership launch and revenue stability:
In November 2025, during the incubator phase, Maldives Independent launched its membership scheme.
With limited capacity to build entirely new premium content products, the team made a deliberate strategic decision: instead of creating additional content that would stretch newsroom resources, they focused on articulating the value of their existing mission more convincingly.
Within months, the outlet secured:
- 20 paying members
- 550 registered non-paying members
Membership revenue now covers part of the newsroom’s monthly website hosting and infrastructure costs. The team continues to iterate on pricing models and develop institutional membership tiers aimed at organisations and partners who want to support independent journalism structurally.
2. Product-focused membership perks
Rather than offering additional content behind a paywall, Maldives Independent developed technology-based membership benefits that strengthen user experience:
- Dhivehi-language puzzle and crossword games
- Dark mode customisation
- Topic-following and personalised homepage recommendations
This approach protected editorial capacity while improving reader engagement and platform stickiness.
3. Audience engagement improvements
Through the Accelerator, the team refined how they think about audience engagement across products. Key improvements include:
- Custom-designed article layouts for major stories
- More personal, conversational newsletter introductions
- Interactive infographics and explainers
- A deliberate balance between investigative reporting and lighter, culturally relevant stories
These changes have led to stronger newsletter open rates and improved engagement across platforms.
4. Operational discipline in a small newsroom
Publishing at least one original article per day, the team operates with a lean structure. They rely on Trello boards, daily editorial alignment meetings, and flexible content planning to maximise limited resources while maintaining quality and responsiveness.
“Having strong content will not cut it as a strategy for being sustainable. The Accelerator helped my team and me understand that there has to be a cyclical relationship between good journalism, audience-centred reporting, product design and communication. One cannot work without the other”, said Nur Thoufeeq.
Maldives Independent is one of the participants in IPI’s Local News Accelerator 2025, made possible with support from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
