The Christian Science Monitor has quietly launched a subscription news service, dubbed Monitor Frontier Markets, that provides coverage of investments and companies in emerging and smaller economies across the globe.
The service launched at the end of October. It will run for a few more months before the publication decides whether to tweak its coverage or roll it out to a broader audience. It has been taking trial subscriptions, and has talked to companies about receiving licenses for its employees to access coverage. Early subscribers include bankers from Ghana to Australia and U.S. financial services companies and government agencies.
“It’s a beta product at the moment, and it got its genesis over the past few years. We saw our international network get tapped by boutique firms across the world seeking research from our people on the ground,” said Matthew Clark, new ventures director at The Monitor and general manager of Monitor Frontier Markets, in a telephone conversation on Monday with Talking Biz News. “So we started to see the growing demand for this type of news.”
Monitor Frontier Markets has a crew of about 20 working, at various levels, although the paper has a network of 200 correspondents around the globe. The news is delivered by email, but it also has an website. The emails are segmented by regions of the world. The Monitor is also considering emails by industry such as industry, finance and telecommunications.
“Right now we’re offering daily emails by region, and we also do in-depth reports such as a 2014 report where we saw the most changes and most opportunities coming down the pike in the coming year,” said Clark.
As for the price, Clark said, “We’re kind of working on that.” Rates will differ based on industry verticals and the type of information that a client will want. The Monitor Frontier Markets content will not appear in full on the Monitor website.
“The aim of this is to provide a forward-looking lens,” said Clark. “Every story page has a full briefing, and before you get to the full text, you get a synopsis of why you should be reading this and three impact statements” that show the business, security and social impact of news events. “There aren’t a lot of people doing business news in this way, looking at what Western and foreign investors are trying to do in these countries. Bangladesh is a good example.”
Bangladesh has recently had protests that have blocked trade, preventing garment industry orders from being filled.
The editor in chief of is Marshall Ingwerson, who is also managing editor of the Monitor. The managing editor is Ben Arnoldy, who is deputy international editor of the Monitor.
