The triumph of ‘wealth porn’

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The mainstream media is so drunk on the so-called economic prosperity of the past five years that they gloss over issues of economic inequality and now unapologetically wax salaciously rhapsodic about wealth and the wealthy, according to an essay in the COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW.

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As new money magazines pop up, mainstream news outlets struggle to compete — with bigger business and Wall Street sections and new technology fetishist inserts — rather than taking the opportunity to show the other side of ‘New Wealth’: New Poverty and its economic, social, and moral impact for millions on the wrong end of the boom.

Writes author Gary Andrew Poole: “America is doing well, thanks, and the press is reporting the phenomenon. But do we over-celebrate the New Wealth, giving the reader the impression that he’s the only one who isn’t loaded, or that being rich is all that matters? Are we analyzing the ramifications of the new prosperity?” To which we say, do you really have to ask?

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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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