MGP-Forum & E-mail List - Continuing the discussion from MGP 2006

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Sounds good to me...

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Submitted by Megan Tady on Thu, 2006-09-14 14:51.

Submitted by:

Megan Tady / Reporter, The NewStandard / www.newstandardnews.net / Land # 413.341.3404 / Cell # 413.657.4909

Friends,

I'm writing with an urgent message: The NewStandard, one of the only reader-funded, collectively run, hard news sites on the web, will close its doors in three weeks if we do not secure the necessary funding from readers to continue publishing.

Maybe you're already a reader of The NewStandard. Maybe you've never heard of it before. Either way, this message is for you, because everyone stands to lose when an alternative to the corporate media is forced to shut down. And I'm hoping you will help save it. The NewStandard is entirely reader funded in order to remain uncompromised and allow them to fearlessly tackle the underreported, misreported, ignored and buried stories of our times, always from a public-interest perspective.

As The NewStandard struggles for a financial footing, the Far Right's "alternative" media operations barrel onward into the hard-news field, regularly starting new websites. If The NewStandard ceases publication, conservative and fundamentalist websites will continue to expand into online hard news, just as corporate behemoths presently rule the print and broadcast news realms.

In order to survive, The NewStandard needs to raise another $5,000 in recurring monthly donations. You can donate anything upward from $3 a month. The average donation is around $12 a month. If you already donate, and you still want to help, forward this email far and wide, or even consider increasing your monthly donation. Please click here: https://secure.peoplesnetworks.net/members/ and pledge what you can. It will truly be a sad day if readers do not rally around The NewStandard to save it. If we fail, it'll be the end of one of the country's most principled news outlets.

See: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/profiles/index.php?action=profile&id=6

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Newstandard and Money

Ok, we all know that publishing great news content takes some money and that there are a variety of ways to fund the effort. But frankly, as a citizen journalist who also needs funding for my own projects, you've given me little reason to fund your efforts over mine. Quit begging or start selling advertising. It's that simple, unless you have a private endowment which you apparently lack or you would not be begging.
If everyone out there went begging for funding....ah what the hell...send me money too, I need it just as much as the Newstandard and I'll put it to good use producing video content for local news progamming. I only need $4,800 per month though, so its a pretty good deal.

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Newstandard and Money

The reasons to fund the NewStandard - http://newstandardnews.net/ - are
several:

* They have proven for more than two years the quality of reporting they can produce.
* The project is unique in its national scope and focus on original, hard-news reporting.
* Their very dedication to taking no funds except from readers, which can set an example and IS sustainable-- but only if they receive the resources from people who really care about better journalism to
grow until enough people know about it.

Send a promise of support now to the NewStandard at
http://newstandardnews.net/

The NewStandard isn't my project. Personally I hope never to rely on donations for my own survival, while dedicating as many hours as possible to my own project: to create a platform for all sorts of reporting, direct communication, and collective decision-making. (A
network with a claim to universality staked on democracy and transparency.) Meanwhile the journalism effort I am most closely associated with is the Narco News Bulletin - http://narconews.com/ - funded by donations to the Fund for Authentic Journalism -
http://www.authenticjournalism.org/ - which does incredible work "reporting on the drug war and democracy from Latin America" with a budget of less than a fifth of the NewStandard's goal.

But there's a concept called solidarity which says we should give support to those in the trenches when they need the help most, even while we have our own needs. So that's why I ask you, Steven, and I ask every person who like you cares about great news content, to put their support in the form of a few bucks at the NewStandard - http://newstandardnews.net/

- ben melançon
http://AgaricDesign.com/ :: Open Source Web Development (makers of MGP-Forum)

And by the way Steven, if we can help you set up a citizen journalism and film project management web site for Franklin county, let us know. (Citizen journalism sites I think are particularly suited to advertising-- in the same way I'm not concerned with vote-buying on the citizen, as opposed to legislator, level-- if they have to buy us all off, well at least it's still some sort of democracy.) But for the moment...

9 days to save the NewStandard - http://newstandardnews.net/ - promise your donation now!

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