As you have hopefully noticed, all of our coverage of the Memphis impact of COVID-19 has been free. You can read every one of our Coronavirus stories – all of which are at www.dailymemphian.com/coronavirus - at no cost.

The Daily Memphian is produced by Memphians, in Memphis, with a singular focus on this city and its people, and so we recognized early on that our coronavirus coverage needed to be available to everyone.

But let me also say this. It is because we are produced by Memphians, in Memphis, with this singular focus on our city we ask that you buy a paid subscription to The Daily Memphian in order to support the work we do.

If you already subscribe, we thank you. But consider buying a gift subscription for a friend or family member.

Why are we making this request right now? Because while our COVID-19 coverage is free, it is in no way free to produce. Our 35 full-time journalists plus many, many freelancers across the city have written hundreds of stories and blog posts already. And we’ll do hundreds – and maybe thousands – more in the coming weeks and months.

That involves a tremendous amount of effort – around the clock – from the journalists at The Daily Memphian, whether it’s our metro reporters covering local reaction to the outbreak, or our business reporters writing about the Memphis companies that are already being decimated by the fallout of COVID-19, or our only reporter not based in Memphis, Sam Stockard at the state capital, who is covering every detail of state government’s response.

I’m sure some people might see it as contradictory to ask for support – a paid subscription – even as we’re making our coronavirus coverage free. But it’s not. We need your support to help underwrite coverage for the people who simply can’t – or shouldn’t – pay for a subscription to The Daily Memphian. This crisis is too important.

We also know that, even before the coronavirus outbreak, there were people who couldn’t afford to pay for the stories we write. That’s why we’ve always given away some stories for free. And it’s why The Daily Memphian is free in hundreds of locations around the city, including libraries, schools, and other community-focused organizations – with hundreds of more free locations launching over the coming months.

But if you can afford to pay for The Daily Memphian, please do so. What we do every day is expensive. And important. Become a paid subscriber and support the critical work we do.

Thanks for reading.