They say that all good things must come to an end. I don’t know if that’s true. But when it comes to an open Internet, something which I’ve very much appreciated having and I suspect you have too, it looks like that saying might be true.
After a federal appeals court threw out the existing rules on net neutrality in January, the Federal Communications Commission now looks to be proposing weaker rules that would allow big Internet service providers like AT&T and Verizon to charge websites premium fees to deliver content to consumers more quickly.
What does that mean in a nutshell? Bad news for smaller web companies, startups and nonprofits. Bad news for your average Internet users who could find themselves paying more or getting shut out. Bad news for you and me as readers of independent news and people who believe in getting perspectives from outside the corporate media bubble.
And bad news for Truthout. We work hard to bring you hard-hitting reporting and fresh, insightful analysis, without the corrupting influence of corporate money. If net neutrality is lost, we’ll face daunting new challenges – which is why the support of our readers is even more essential than ever.
Truthout will keep bringing you the latest on the fight to save the open Internet – it’s just one of the issues our staff reporter Mike Ludwig is dedicated to covering. But we need your help to do it. Can you support us with a tax-deductible donation now?
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We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.