Daily Maverick's motto isDefend Truth, and it is funded by a combination of readerdonations,grants, events, andadvertising.[1]
The publication states thatjournalism, in its opinion, needs to do two things. Firstly; it needs to help protectdemocracy, which it says it does by means of a large investment in accountability. And, secondly; it needs to help people navigate life, make better decisions, have better conversations, and ultimately aid people in the pursuit of a better life, which the publication says it achieves by explaining the impact of major events, providing perspective from an experiencednewsroom, and publishing avariety of opinions, sourced from a network of contributors (in other words, avoidingbias and remainingobjective and balanced with what they publish).[1]
In terms of readership, the publication stated in 2024 that it had approximately 14.5 million unique website visits per month.[7]
The aforementioned investigation was credited with exposing the Indian-born Gupta family, and former PresidentJacob Zuma, for their role in the multi-year-long, systemic politicalcorruption andstate capture that occurred in South Africa, during Zuma's time in office. In 2018, Brkic received theNat Nakasa Award for his role in the investigation.[12][13] In 2021, Daily Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous also received the award.[12]
Daily Maverick was launched in 2009 by Brkic and Charalambous following the closure of Brkic's former print magazines, Maverick and Empire.[14][15][16] They started a "daily ipad newspaper" in 2011 to complement the existing website; it closed in 2013.[17][18][19] The weekly print newspaper, DM168,[20] was launched in 2020.[21][22]
In 2018,Daily Maverick launched Maverick Insider, a voluntary membership plan that doesn't have apaywall or standard donation request. Contributions from readers will keepDaily Maverick free for those who can't afford to pay.
Daily Maverick hosts articles byDeclassified UK, a group of independentjournalists who investigateBritish foreign policy, the UK military and intelligence agencies, and Britain's most powerful corporations.
Daily Maverick'smembership model has been widely recognised as a successful example of the emerging membership trend that invites audiences of news publications to pay to become part of a readership community.[23][24][25]
In addition to its membership programme, the privately owned publication also hosts paid live events.[1][26][27] It has received philanthropic funding from theOpen Society Foundation,[28] Donald Gordon Foundation,[29] Elaine & David Potter Foundation[30] andABSA.[31] It is a participant of theMedia Investment Development Fund's South African Media Innovation Programme.[32]
It also producespodcasts[33][34][35] anddocumentaries, the latter of which includesInfluence, a documentary directed by Poplak and Diana Neille, which premiered at theSundance Film Festival in 2020.[36]Section 16, which details the online attacks onDaily Maverick's women journalists, debuted at the Encounters Film Festival.[37][38]
Daily Maverick iswholly owned by aholding company, which is funded by a number ofshareholders, many of which arenon-profits andtrusts, which aligns with the publication's goal of continuing to provide balanced, unbiased news. No shareholder has more than 50% ownership of the publication.[1]
The largest shareholder is South African non-profit Inkululeko South Africa Media. Other shareholders, with less than 15% ofDaily Maverick share ownership include; KMC Trust, Wolmarans Trust, Polyanna Trust, Bakkium Share Trust, Angel Trust, Noble Savage (Pty) ltd, Tondox (Pty) ltd, Styli Charalambous, Branko Brkic, and Tony Rattey.[1]
Branislav ‘Branko' Brkic is a Serbian-born South African journalist,publisher, andDaily Maverick's Co-Founder and editor-in-chief - he and Styli Charalambous co-launched the publication in 2009.[39][40]
In 2018, Brkic was awarded the country's prestigiousNat Nakasa Award[41] for initiating the collaborative corruption investigation into the Indian-bornGupta family and former South African PresidentJacob Zuma, known as the GuptaLeaks.[42] The investigation won the 2019 Global Shining Light Award alongsideRappler, the Filipino publication founded byNobel Prize laureateMaria Ressa.[43]
Brkic was a book publisher in Yugoslavia before immigrating to South Africa in 1991. In 1998 he launched Timbila, the former South African National Parks magazine[44] and co-founded the IT business magazineBrainstorm in 2001 with Jovan Regasek.[45]
Brkic launched the print business magazineMaverick in 2005, launching its sister publicationEmpire magazine in 2007. Both magazines closed in September 2008.[46] Brkic and his partner, co-founder and CEO Styli Charalambous, launchedDaily Maverick in 2009.[47]
Styli Charalambous isDaily Maverick's Co-Founder and CEO.
A regular instructor on revenue models in journalism for theCraig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York,[48] Charalambous also was a member of the steering committee for the Forum on Information & Democracy's working group on sustainability in journalism. In 2021, he was awarded theNat Nakasa Courage and Integrity Award for his contribution to South African journalism.[49]
Charalambous designed and launched the group's "Maverick Insider" membership programme,[50] recognised globally as an example of a successful membership model.[51] He speaks globally about media sustainability membership models, including theInternational Journalism Festival, the International Symposium on Online Journalism,World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. He has published on the topic forNorthwestern University'sKnight Lab and Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism's publicationsNieman Reports andNieman Lab.[52][53]
Charalambous co-producedThe Highwaymen, a podcast byDaily Maverick'sRichard Poplak and Diana Neille.[54]
2012 – SAB Sports Media Awards – New Media – Social Media Correspondent of the Year – Styli Charalambous –Daily Maverick[58]
2012 –Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism – Runner-up – Greg Marinovich –Daily Maverick[59]
2013 – Vodacom National Journalist of the Year Online winner – Greg Marinovich –Daily Maverick[60]
2016 –CNNMultichoice African Business Journalism Award – Economics & Business Award – Diana Neille, Richard Poplak, Shaun Swingler & Sumeya Gasa, Daily Maverick, South Africa ‘Casualties of Cola: Outsourcing, Exploitation & the New Realities of Work'[61]
2016 –Vodacom Journalism Award – Online Winner – Diana Neille, Sumeya Gasa, Shaun Swingler, Richard Poplak. Daily Maverick, Casualties of Cola[62]
2016 – Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism Awards – First Runner-up[63]
2017 – Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism – #GuptaLeaks – 19 journalists from AmaBhungane, Daily Maverick and News24[64]
2018 – Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity – South African National Editors' Forum – Branko Brkic[65]
2018 – Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award – #GuptaLeaks – Scorpio,amaBhungane andNews24[66]
2019 – SAFTA – Golden Horn award for Best Documentary Short – Nanlaban: The Philippines War on Drugs –Chronicle[67]
2019 – Vodacom Journalist of the Year – Multi-platform – Sune Payne and Leila Dougan –Daily Maverick[68]
2019 – Vodacom Journalist of the Year – Financial/Economics – Marianne Merten[68]
2019 – Global Shining Light Award – #GuptaLeaks –Daily Maverick[69]
