Note to Media: Please Stop Writing Dumb Articles About California

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I have a wee request for the national media: will you please stop writing about Tim Draper’s idiotic plan to split California into six states? I know it’s a slow news week and all, and I know everyone loves an excuse to talk about how much Californians all hate each other, but California is not going to get sliced up. Reporters know it’s not going to happen; Draper knows it’s not going to happen; everyone knows it’s not going to happen. So can we all stop feeding his ego on this just for the sake of some dull, pro forma thumbsuckers about how California is really big (duh) and features political conflicts between its different regions (double duh)? Thanks.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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