UPDATE -- from Bill Densmore --

On Feb. 28, 2006, Ben Melancon writes that TheNewStandard reached its fund-raising goal.

-- bill

---------- ORIGINAL POST --------
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/ [1] 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.

In Solidarity,

Megan Tady
Reporter, The NewStandard
www.newstandardnews.net [2]
Land # 413.341.3404
Cell # 413.657.4909