Introducing Perspective (and other updates)
September 7th 2024
Today I’m rolling out a new section in the Moldova Matters newsletter and website called “Perspective.” The idea will be to have a new type of article where I’ll share my views on a current affairs topic, or some aspect of Moldova in general. Sometimes this will be a traditional opinion piece but more often it will be analysis rooted in my experience in Moldova. I’m not 100% sure how it will develop, but the plan is to leverage more of a first person voice to dive into stories that don’t lend themselves well to the existing newsletter structure.
The first article in the Perspective section will be landing in your inbox a few moments after this email. In it I will take a look at the recent International Crisis Group report on Moldova and talk about my impressions of the report, specifically how I feel the report is rather biased when you read between the lines.
As the Perspective section develops I’m going to be really open to subscriber feedback and topic suggestions. My goal with this is to leverage a different format to help you all understand Moldova better. So I’ll take your suggestions and questions as my guide.
One thing to note though is that Perspective is largely going to be for paid subscribers only. I’m taking some inspiration from Nate Silver’s excellent Silver Bulletin newsletter here. Basically, by putting my own analysis and opinion behind a paywall I’m guaranteeing that the readers and commenters are gonna be there for a good discussion (cutting out the bots for one). Also, it’s a nice perk for paid subscribers and hopefully will convince a few people to sign up.
In other news, I’ve struggled mightily to find a sustainable publishing schedule for the Weekly Roundup. When I started Moldova Matters it was the middle of the pandemic and my schedule with other work allowed me to write each Thursday, edit Friday morning and then send out the newsletter. The start of the war shattered this schedule and I’ve been struggling ever since to get back into it. So now, I’m giving up. Fridays are just too tough with other work so I’m now gonna target sending the Weekly Roundup out each Monday. Invariably that will sometimes slip to Tuesday but I think it’s a target that I’m in a much better position to hit.
Perspective articles won’t come out weekly but when they do I’m gonna target late in the week for them. Other articles from the Journo Birds, other contributors or podcasts will come out on a kinda rolling basis.
So that’s the update! I hope you like the new Perspective sections. Also - remember that if you love some Moldova Matters content but don’t like something else you can always update your subscription to only get emails from the sections you like best.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
Love the view!! Captures a bit of what is special about Moldova. And what you plan for Perspectives reminds me of Tangle (are you familiar with it and/or Isaac Saul?), which seeks to be (and imho does well) a source of good journalism on issues in America. And with all that is going both in Moldovan news and in whatever else is part of your life I think your changes are heading in a good direction.