By Pranaya Rana, Founding Editor, Kalam Weekly
The Nepali media landscape is flourishing. There are dozens of newspapers, both national and local, hundreds of digital media outlets and a plethora of new media offerings like podcasts, video explainers and social media pages. Yet the average Nepali audience is more misinformed than ever. Clickbait headlines, contextless articles and piecemeal news characterize the Nepali media. Even legacy media houses have succumbed to the siren song of an algorithm-based news cycle, sacrificing readability and depth for clicks and views.
Around the world, the rise of social media, shifting audience habits and the collapse of traditional advertising have reshaped the business economics of journalism, often at the expense of depth and trust. In Nepal, these global pressures are compounded by the media’s fraught relationship with the market. For too long, mainstream media have indulged in a quid pro quo with commercial interests. In exchange for securing paid advertisements, the media refrains from critical reporting targeting businesses and those who run them. Independent media, acknowledging that advertisements often come with strings attached that influence editorial content, have been reluctant to accept commercial advertising. This generally results in reliance on grant funding, which comes with its own set of challenges. Grant awards are designed to respond to donor agendas, rather than the needs of the recipients. They are also generally short-term and irregular, leaving independent media continually seeking new grants to replace those that have run out.
This is what happened at my previous workplace, The Record, a digital native independent publication. While The Record was steadfastly independent, it relied primarily on grants to support its operations. Thus, when the grant funding ended in 2021, the publication went on an indefinite hiatus, where it remains to this day.
While working at The Record as its Chief Editor, I started a newsletter, initially titled Off the Record, a current affairs digest of major events in Nepal occurring the previous week. When The Record suspended operations, I continued the newsletter, intending to provide continuity and keep our readers engaged with the brand until The Record resumed operations. Over time, it became clear that this would not happen anytime soon and I decided, in August 2024, to take the newsletter independent and rebrand it as Kalam Weekly. However, I faced the same dilemma that The Record had contended with – how to finance independent media without succumbing to either the whims of the market or the demands of donors?
As Kalam Weekly was a newsletter, the natural course was to explore paid subscriptions. Kalam Weekly provides contextual political analysis in English, filling a gap in the market that suggested some revenue potential. We had attempted this model at The Record, though with little success. Now, though, I hoped that my newsletter, hosted on Substack with a built-in payment processor, could generate enough reader revenue to keep it afloat. But I was unsure that this was possible. As a career journalist, I was confident of the content I was producing but had little idea how to monetize a newsletter and pursue strategic audience growth and revenue. This is where Amplify Asia came in.
I joined MDIF’s Amplify Asia program in July 2024, seeking guidance on how to expand my audience and assess the potential revenue from my newsletter. The Amplify Asia team recommended that I work with one of their business coaches, Kim Bode, a US-based audience and product strategist, coach and consultant with a wealth of experience in newsletter engagement and strategically driving audience growth. It proved an excellent match and, through fortnightly meetings, she helped us figure out how to both increase our free subscriber base and convert them into paid supporters. When we joined Amplify Asia, Kalam had roughly 3,200 free subscribers and 50 paid subscribers, each paying an average of $100 a year. Under Kim’s direction, we conducted a reader survey and developed an end-of-year subscription drive, encouraging our free subscribers to upgrade to paid status, reminding them that this would help keep Kalam independent. The drive was more successful than I had ever imagined. Our initial goal was to reach 100 paid supporters, but we shot past this target only halfway through the campaign. By the end of 2024, we had more than doubled our paid subscriber base to 120 supporters.
In addition to the hands-on support that Kim has provided to Kalam, MDIF’s Amplify Asia program has also facilitated training and workshops for the Kalam team. We have attended workshops on newsletter growth, AI usage in the newsroom and sales and marketing. These sessions not only taught us much that we hadn’t considered before but also connected us to like-minded institutions from across Asia. Our conversations and connections have sparked ideas and allowed us to feel less alone in pursuing journalism as independent organizations.
In 2025, on Kim’s recommendation and with support from Amplify Asia, Kalam was able to bring on board its first employee – a strategic partnerships and marketing associate – to help pursue more paid memberships and explore outside partnerships with like-minded organizations and institutions. I had previously done this work in addition to being the sole writer of the Kalam Weekly newsletter. Hiring an employee has allowed me to focus more on the editorial side while our new employee handles subscription drives, events and partnerships.
As I write this in November 2025, Kalam Weekly currently boasts 4,680 free subscribers and over 200 paid supporters. We are currently amid another end-of-year subscription drive, aiming to reach 225 paid subscribers by year’s end. We are well on our way. Our gross annualized revenue has increased by more than 180% since we joined Amplify Asia 16 months ago. Much of this success can be attributed to Kim’s guidance and the Amplify Asia program. Without their help, I doubt Kalam would’ve gotten to where it is today.
As journalists, we often lack the expertise to develop the business side of our media. We are so focused on our editorial work that we neglect sustainability and profitability. But a good organization must earn its keep, and that is what Amplify Asia has allowed us to do.
This essay is part of a series highlighting the journeys of independent media organizations supported through MDIF’s media business capacity-building program across South and Southeast Asia, as they experiment with business models, strengthen resilience, and adapt to challenging environments. Together, these stories contribute to a broader exploration of sustainability and innovation in independent media, which will be compiled into a full report following the release of the series.