BosNewsLife founder Stefan J. Bos said the decision was made to accommodate dissidents and people in impoverished nations who lack financial resources or credit cards to subscribe. Also, BosNewsLife has increasingly become "a vehicle for change" amid reports that at least some Christians were released because of its coverage, he claimed.
Bos said however that BosNewsLife is still dependent on donations, it calls ‘volunteer subscriptions’ of any amount and ‘republishing subscriptions’ for just $119.95/year. In both cases subscribers will also be able to receive its news flashes. Both options can be reached via: http://bosnewslife.com/index.php?//page.volunteerSubscription&menuId=18 Articles older than 30 days can be purchased through the archive.
Bos said BosNewsLife made the latest move after establishing that its coverage contributed to the release of Christians and religious activists from prisons in several countries. "Making huge money was never the first aim of BosNewsLife, but of course in this world everything costs money and we really need help to continue."
"LORD’S PLAN"
He said he and his wife and fellow journalist Agnes R. Bos "first of all founded BosNewsLife to be a voice of the voiceless and carry out what we believe is the Lord’s plan with our lives."
Bos said they were encouraged when three computer users jailed for comments they made on an Internet forum and website dedicated to religious freedom in Vietnam were released by authorities in August, apparently after a BosNewsLife story sparked international protests.
"Thanks to your article, several international organizations…jumped into this matter and the result is that the three victims were released on July 7, 2006 after nine months in a Communist detention camp," explained California-based Anthony Nguyen of The International Movement for Vietnam’s Democracy and Human Rights, which hosts website www.tudongonluanonline.com and a chat room via paltalk.com.
BosNewsLife began covering the story shortly after October 19, 2005, when Nguyen confirmed that Truong Quoc Tuan, his brother Truong Quoc Huy and his fiancée Lisa Pham were detained at their Ho Chi Min City home on charges of violating article 19 of the criminal code "by inciting the population to overthrow the government."
The link to the story is: http://bosnewslife.com/asia-pacific/vietnam/2355-breaking-news-vietnam-releases-internet-users
INDEPENDENT AGENCY
Based in Budapest, Hungary, BosNewsLife began operations as Central Europe’s first independent Christian news agency on the Internet on May 1, 2004 when 10 mainly ex-Communist countries joined the European Union. This year, Bulgaria and Romania joined the new countries, expanding the block to 27 members.
Bos said BosNewsLife wants to inform compassionate professionals about especially Christians and Jewish people "living in difficult circumstances for whatever reason, including persecution, and other freedom of expression issues" in former and current Communist nations and other countries with autocratic rule.
Stefan J. Bos, who was born in the Netherlands, has been a long-time reporter for national and international media including Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America (VOA), Vatican Radio, Dutch and Belgium radio and television networks and America’s leading syndicated business radio program Marketplace.
Ukranian-born Agnes R. Bos has been a regular contributor to the Russian Services of the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) and Radio France International (RFI) and a producer for several television networks.
