As usual around this time of year, our fundraising team reached out¹ and asked that I put up a post asking you to support Mother Jones with a year-end donation.
You know the drill: as a nonprofit, Mother Jones wouldn’t exist without readers who value what we do, and pitch in from time to time to support it. Here’s the official case for our December pledge drive from our CEO, Monika, who calls the combination of economic and political threats to the media a perfect storm for the survival of investigative journalism:
But there’s a lot more. (One of the documents I update on sleepless nights is a list of current threats to journalism and journalists—it now runs to six pages and counting.) But here’s the bottom line: Unprecedented economic problems for media, or unprecedented political attacks on journalism, would be bad enough on their own. But both at once—that’s a synergy so unusual and dangerous that we haven’t even begun to grapple with its implications.
….Yes, the New York Times and the Washington Post have been hitting it out of the park—but the vast majority of newsrooms are unable to follow suit. And how long will the likes of Jeff Bezos be willing to subsidize accountability journalism? We need a different model. And as MoJo readers like you know, we’ve placed our bets on an admittedly radical idea: that journalism is a public service, not a profit center, and that its survival rests with the people it serves. You.
Give the whole thing a read. Or, just go straight to our donation page and join us with a tax-deductible donation so we can hit our stretch goal of $350,000 by the end of the month. The hot ticket is a monthly donation if you can swing it. And maybe if we make our goal, I can persuade Monika to share her six-page list!
By the way, I checked with Hilbert and as you can see, he approves this message.
¹Translation: Brian sent me an email.
