Newsdesk and The Public Press hosted a fundraiser party in San Francisco last Thursday. After some cajoling, Margaret convinced me to go with her.
I felt really weird. I was going to eat more than my fair share of the free food and I sure as hell wasn’t going to donate.
I don’t donate to anything and never have. It’s not because I don’t care about the public media, or the homeless, or starving amputee whale babies. My caring just gets lost somewhere in the Land of My Cash Makes No Difference. It’s somewhere in Nonprofits Are Often Corrupt Valley, which sits at the foot of I Need To Buy Groceries Mountain.
Jokes aside, I’ll sum it up: I don’t see how the benefit of my donation will outweigh the cost. Write a check for a bajillion dollars–throwing money at a problem doesn’t make it go away.
After navigating the streets of San Francisco we found our way into the church and entered the main room just as someone was tapping a fork against a glass. Margaret and I sidled in behind the snack bar. The host introduced Michael Stoll, who walked up to the podium and said the following:
“I want to thank you all for coming. I think your presence here is a testament to the passionate belief of journalists and supporters of good journalism that a vibrant and independent press is essential to keeping our democratic system healthy.”
Oh. Right.
When I was young I remember a strong sentiment that only the newspapers could be trusted: the Internet was too unregulated to be a viable source of trustworthy information and the news networks (who opted to air Bill O’Reilly and Nancy Grace’s insightful commentary on Janet Jackson’s nipple and whether it had actually appeared alongside Justin Timberlake at the Superbowl in 2004 instead of broadcasting anything that actually happened) were long abandoned as a source of democratically-geared commentary.
Studying political theory in college, we hunkered under the fear that the USA would never have a truly functioning democracy in which everyone could participate. We are different from our international democratic brothers and sisters. To oversimplify: instead of going out to vote, we stay at home and watch Bill O’Reilly. How do you get democracy out of over-worked, under-paid citizens to take time out of their day and vote, when the network news sees fit only to provide coverage on nipples? (Pun not intended.)
Michael clearly had not anticipated the rowdy applause following his opening statement. I pulled out my cell phone and texted Margaret.
Me: This guy is talking to my inner voice.
Margaret: What is he telling you?
Me: To give him my money for democracy.
“So,” Michael was saying. I tuned back in. “…in the last year or two a lot of creative thinkers have proposed turning the whole business model on its head. That’s why we’re here. Philanthropy and audience support have worked well for public broadcasting for decades. Now is the time to experiment with these new business models.”
And they should be successful, if you alert people that the health of their democracy could rest on their donation. Hell, it worked on me.
I walked up to the two women who were tabling by the door. “Hi,” I said, somewhat overcaffeinated. “Can I give you my money here?”
“Sure,” said a young woman who was startled by my enthusiasm. “Just fill this out.” She handed me a donation form. I looked at it strangely.
“Um, okay. I’m going to fill it out here.” I set my orange soda down in front of her and began aggressively hunting through my purse for a pen.
I donated twenty five bucks to start. I say “to start” because while independent news organizations need money, they also need people with hands and brains. Er, volunteers. Volunteers who get to do some kind of awesome work.
The Truthiness Project, for instance, is an interactive fact-checking experience for the 2008 election powered by Flickr and Spot.us. Not only does it provide a central location for voters to understand the array of propositions on the ballot–it allows them to instantly fact-check, or test the validity and relevance, of said propositions. Plus, it’s fun to use. And its pretty.
So, since I don’t have any more money, its time to start giving mad props. Newsdesk and the Public Press have anticipated the next viable business model for truth-based news media. If you would like to participate in a public news project in the name of democracy, contact the Public Press or Newsdesk. Currently they need help with
- editing
- reporting
- photography
- Web production (in Drupal)
- business planning
- finance
- office management
- volunteer coordination
- databases
- social-media marketing
- fundraising
- print design
And I’m sure they won’t say no to your donation.
Read Michael Stoll’s comments from Wednesday night, in their entirety, here.