Welcome back to Daily Maverick after our 24-hour shutdown.

Many of you noticed our shutdown on Monday and to more than 1,000 of you who signed up to become Maverick Insiders, Thank you! We extend the same heartfelt thanks to the businesses that contacted us with support.

You join a legion of nearly 30,000 Maverick Insiders who have supported us all these years, and who continue to have our back through thick and thin. We can't do this without you and we appreciate your support.

To some, it may have seemed over the top to shut Daily Maverick down for a day to convey the depth of the crisis that journalism is facing worldwide.

By all measures, we are doing better than the great majority of the news media worldwide -- our audience is growing, as is the quality, depth and spectrum of our work. But make no mistake. Behind the scenes, this is a daily grind for existence -- and survival.

Thought Daily Maverick's shutdown was a PR stunt? This is the real state of the news media

These days, choosing to follow a true media mandate comes with a burden of pain. The financial struggles, the threats, the attacks and the derision are all...