Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
Jonathan Tasini, commentator & writer on work, labor and the economy joins Thom Hartmann. The Supreme Court ignored the needs of one and a half million women yesterday – ruling in favor of Wal-Mart in a huge class-action discrimination lawsuit. In a 5-4 decision along ideological lines – the Conservative Justices did not rule on whether or not Wal-Mart discriminated against women as the plaintiffs argued – but instead ruled that the women could not bring this type of class action lawsuit against the giant retailer – since every single woman faced different circumstances of discrimination. In other words – the Supreme Court ruled that each of the 1.5 million women that were discriminated against would have to bring their own separate suits in front of the court – each, individually, taking on one of the largest companies in the world all by themselves. But wait…there's more.
Important Message: Please Read
For 25 years, Truthout has survived by publishing impactful investigative journalism and analysis; distributing full editions 365 days a year; and building a community of readers who support us with small, hard-earned donations.
Eighty percent of our $3 million yearly budget comes from small donors alone. Of those, 8,000 readers support us with monthly donations. Back in 2018, when Facebook decided to suppress the circulation of posts made by organizations, thereby cutting readers off from seeing many articles shared by the news organizations they had intentionally decided to follow, Truthout’s total traffic declined by 40 percent, as nearly all of our traffic from that platform disappeared.
Now, Google has recently rolled out its AI search bar, providing AI summaries instead of directing readers to our site. Google Search is our single largest source of traffic; it’s the route by which nearly one third of our readers find us. Much like in 2018, a shocking 40 percent of our Google traffic has disappeared overnight.
It will not be easy for Truthout to shoulder this blow. Nor will it be easy for our peers and collaborators — news sites that depend on traffic and aren’t bankrolled by large corporations.
If you can support Truthout with a donation today, you can help us resist the AI onslaught. Please give today.