Chris Hass is the Deputy Publisher of IN THESE TIMES.
Has been for over a year now.
← Now deputy publisher @InTheseTimesMag, a political magazine that's been troublemaking & muckraking for 40 years. Will try not to f-it up.
You'd think that position paid a little.
Apparently not.
Hence, "We're trying something new" -- the mass e-mailing sent out yesterday to everyone ever foolish enough to provide their e-mail to IN THESE TIMES.
The e-mail opens with a "Hi" -- don't you love familiarity when someone's trying to slip their hand into your wallet? -- and then offers:
You get what you pay for, as the saying goes -- but when it comes to journalism, we don't pay for much anymore.
And as more and more readers get their news for free, too many outlets have shifted their focus to ad-supported content that competes for the most clicks, rather than the biggest impact.
It's a tragic irony of our time that just when we need bold, truth-telling journalism most, financial support for this kind of media has all but evaporated.
Between 2007 and 2015, the number of full-time journalists working at daily newspapers fell by 40 percent. More than 100 local newspapers closed in 2009 alone. Every day there are fewer reporters on the beat, and less investigative reporting being done.
At the same time, the past few months have seen a surge of interest in independent journalism that's willing to speak truth to power -- since November, In These Times has gained more than 15,000 new magazine subscribers.
That's a huge lift, and it's helped us come out of the gate strong this year with on-the-ground reporting on the growing resistance to the Trump administration, as well as deeply-researched pieces on the origin and forces behind Trumpism.
But to truly support the work of our reporters, and to produce the kind of journalism this moment demands, we can't keep riding the same boom and bust cycle that's been the reality for independent media for years now.
That's why we're trying something different. We're asking readers to invest in the kind of journalism they want to read, for the long-haul.
What does this mean? For readers, it means committing to make a small donation of just $5 or more each month -- about the cost of two cups of coffee. For our journalism however, it could be a game-changer.
No offense, Chris, we get that you're just doing your job.
But your e-mail is annoying and worse.
Exactly what did you do during the last eight years?
Did you challenge Barack Obama's bombings of Iraq?
Did you challenge his Drone War?
Did you report regularly on the ongoing Iraq War?
No.
No.
And no.
So what the fuck makes you think we owe a penny to IN THESE TIMES.
It was nothing but an organ for the Democratic Party.
It failed the left repeatedly.
It also failed to cover the ongoing wars.
You don't deserve a penny.
And before you beg next, why don't you do even one damn thing that qualifies as journalism?
We don't need your crap on how the Democratic Party's going to save us.
It hasn't so far, but keep telling that fairy tale to whatever children you can round up.
For those of us who have grown up, we realize that the failure of IN THESE TIMES would actually be liberating for the left -- leaving us one left fake ass outlet that does nothing.