June 26, 2009

Elsewhere at the Washington Post…

Photo by flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13184821@N07/3252199446/" target="blank">eks4003</a>.

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Reading Nick’s quote of the day below, I was struck by the, um, incredibly jarring contrast in tone between Dan Froomkin’s sober final column about the harrowing legacy of Bush and Cheney’s tenure in office, and a competition the Post launched yesterday challenging readers to write the first paragraph for Cheney’s forthcoming book. When I saw the contest I was thinking of a parody in the vein of, say, The Trial, or 1984, but the Post appears to be aiming more for a PG Wodehouse kind of thing, perhaps—it’s hard to tell. Here’s their sample opener:

“Undisclosed Location, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009: Well, the baton is passed. Our work is finally done. Eight years, one devastating terrorist attack, two wars and one recession later, it’s finally time to relax. It’s been an amazing ride. George and I can certainly say, ‘We did it our way!’ Or really, if you want to get technical about it, my way. Well, best of luck to this new crew. They’re going to need all the help they can get. Or as I was saying to Lynne the other night, it’s going to take an ‘extraordinary rendition’ to get us out of this mess. And with this bunch coming into office, you can bet it’s going to be torture. Ha-ha!”

Torture: so droll. Let’s hope the Post‘s readers can do a little better.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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