Psycler

Dear Reader,

Who will hold the right-wing fanatics in line? Who will keep tabs on the justice system in a way that changes lives? Who is keeping an eye on the quality of our food supply? Who is poised to debunk bad information about sex and health, or to celebrate the efforts of progressive change-makers?

As I like to say, “Jeez, Louise!” We sure find ourselves in a political predicament in this country of ours.

Our 14-month-old Obama presidency frequently disappoints us. But an increasingly scary array of angry, anti-government zealots-far-out, gun-toting radicals, including the Tea Party, the John Birch Society, the Patriots, and other groups we thought were long gone-are aligned against Obama. They will stop at nothing to cut Democrats and progressives down and bring our country to its knees.

The Challenge of the Right-Wing Media

Let’s face it; the conservative media machine with Rupert Murdoch and Fox News at the helm and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck in the wings, is a big part of the problem. Fox and Co. is complemented by a truly rabid Internet infrastructure, where, due to superior funding, the right wing is also gaining supremacy online. This corporate-funded right-wing media is increasingly used as a sophisticated organizing tool, complete with issue-focused Web sites stuffed with talking points and action steps. And they ratchet up the rhetoric every day. For example, Glenn Beck is continually calling progressives “the cancer that is destroying society.”

The Right has to be answered every day. The vital competition for the public message is an all-out battle requiring independent and progressive media to operate at full throttle. Unfortunately, we’re not. Much of progressive media is in third gear because financial support has eroded. Progressives and liberals have put media and message too far down their donations and grants list, counting on the corporate media to hold the crazies in line. But we know full well that is not happening: The newspaper industry is crumbling, losing $1.6 billion in reporting capacity in the last decade, according to a Pew Report.

What We Are Doing to Earn Your Support

In the face of the right-wing onslaught, the need for compelling progressive media is greater than ever. AlterNet has no choice but to gear up for the future, to build on our success and do the best we can with less. We’ve had to cut our budget by 20 percent, and we think we have done very well with what we have. But you are the ultimate judge, so I’m taking this opportunity to report to you-a stakeholder in the AlterNet community-on our achievements and aspirations. I want to show you how we are fine-tuning for the best chance of success in the battle with the right wing.  

Thanks for your time.

1. We look great and we keep growing. Our redesign and new features have been met with general acclaim. A Slate critic wrote, “My favorite thing about [AlterNet] is how well-designed it is, a relative rarity in a world filled with ugly, messy, unnavigable Web sites.” We’ve added new features and tools. Not all of them work perfectly yet, but they will soon!

Our audience continues to grow. February was one of our busiest months in the last few years with about three million visits and six million page views. Do the math: over the year, that translates to roughly 35 million visits and more than 70 million page views. That is a sizable audience, putting us at or near the top of all progressive Web sites.

2. We do your issues better. AlterNet is unique on the progressive Web by drilling down on 15 issues, each with its own editor, and a weekly newsletter e-mailed to between 5,000 and more than 30, 000 readers, depending on the issue. Our Daily Headlines newsletter hits over 100,000. Whether it’s media, human rights, environment, health, the economy, reproductive rights, or sex and relationships we’ve got your issue covered. Food is our most recent issue, and it’s been hugely popular among readers.

Another way we are unique is that we publish original stories-1,250 in 2009. We also harvest the best content from a couple hundred sites, giving their valuable material a bigger audience and making it easier for you, the reader, to get what you need with one-stop media shopping at AlterNet.

3. Our reader support has increased significantly. AlterNet is increasingly reader- and advertising-supported. Foundation support has dropped by 60 percent due to the economic meltdown of ’08, but support from readers and donors has increased by 30 percent, and advertising by even more, over the past three years.

Reader support is more than money, however. Our readers are adroit at helping us get our stories out to tens of thousands more people, sending e-mails or promoting us on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, where we have 14,780 fans and 13,500 followers, respectively. To hear our readers’ voices directly, we have created Soap Box, where readers can sign up and write directly on AlterNet’s front page. Already, 750 AlterNet readers have jumped in.

4. More investigative work. We have renewed our commitment to investigative reporting, with a particular focus on the Tea Party and the right wing, under the leadership of our Washington Bureau Chief, Adele Stan. But we’re not stopping there: Our reporting on the justice system and the financial industry is making a serious impact. Recently we were proud to have assigned an article to Chicago journalist Jessica Pupovac that had a direct result in freeing Michael Tillman after 23 years of being wrongfully incarcerated. We have launched an Investigative Reporting newsletter featuring our content and the best investigations from across the Web.  

5. Our pledge to help create a positive vision for the future. Many people are discouraged, depressed, even traumatized by the American political reality. Those of us in the news are often in the business of delivering bad news every day. Many of us get addicted to it. But we need more balance. We need hope for the future, and we need positive vision and ideas that will help us get there.

Beginning on March 29, AlterNet will launch our new Vision section. Over the years we have published many forward-looking articles, but that has not been enough. As of now, we pledge to post at least one article every day that represents vision, hope, innovation, and creativity.

These are a few of the highlights of our work and what is on our minds. Thanks for reading. If you feel we are worthy of your financial support, please click here to go to our donation page, or write us at AlterNet, 77 Federal Street, San Francisco, CA 94107.

Warmly,

Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org