We know that every day, consistently, we have no fewer than 1000 to 1500 readers visiting this site, even on days when we have not posted new original articles. We estimate that between half and three quarters of these visitors to the site are regulars, who either stop by to check in for new material, or return to re-read an important piece. The others, we assume, are frequent visitors or new readers.
If there are that many people who really recognize the importance of the journalistic work we are doing, and who have come to rely on us, we would hope that there would also be an understanding of the importance of supporting that work financially.
As you surely know, the ThisCantBeHappening! Collective is not a paid or funded organization. We all do this work out of a commitment to write and get out into the larger media news stories and commentary that are simply not being written by not just the corporate media, but even the alternative media. You will not, for example, see our stories being picked up and run by such mushy liberal sites as Truthout or Huffington Post. Even Common Dreams has not run one of our pieces in almost six months. We do get picked up regularly by Counterpunch, Nation of Change, Smirking Chimp and other edgier sites, so we know we’re getting pretty wide impact with the journalism we do.
Some of you donate, often generously, and we thank you. But the truth is we don’t get much at all in the way of financial support from most of our readers — even you regulars.
We are hoping you frequent readers will change that situation. Why do we need money? Because right now we all have to do this work for ThisCantBeHappening! in the interstices of our working lives as freelance journalist, journalist/journalism professor, photographer/author/activist, public health physician, progressive media worker/activist and poet. It’s not easy. It would be easier to do if we had some resources to allow us to cut back on the work we do to make a living, and devote more of our time to the work we do for TCBH!, and also to cover expenses for travel to do real on-the-scene reporting and especially the investigative reporting that has become rarer and rarer in the larger world of what passes for journalism in the US today.
This will be particularly critical as we gear up to cover the Philadelphia Democratic Convention and the protests in and outside the convention at the end of this month (three of us live in the Philadelphia area).
So this is a special appeal: If you are a regular reader of ThisCan’tBeHappening!, and if you understand the importance of what we do, please send us $!0 (cash or check to David Lindorff at POB 846, Ambler, PA 19002) or use the Paypal button at the top of this page (credit cards can be used for added security). If you can’t spare $10, please just send what you can.
You’ll see a difference in what we can do immediately! That’s a promise.
While we’re at it, let us remind you to tell family and friends about our site. At the bottom of each article is an image of an envelope. Click on it and you can send that story out by email to up to four people at once.