Support New Modes of Journalism — Become A “Member”
In the aftermath of the 2016 election, one of my first reactions was to conclude that radically new models of journalism are needed if the Republic is to have any hope. Insidious groupthink and confirmation bias totally hobbled the elite media class, leading them to one of the greatest mass analytical failures in American history, the full scope of which we are only just beginning to grasp.
I launched my “Pundit Accountability Initiative” shortly thereafter, because I wanted to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that these failings were easily preventable and foreseeable. They arose from the perversities of the contemporary online media industry, which incentivizes in-group flattery, geographic clustering, and other poor habits which do not lend themselves to adroit journalistic insights. More relevantly for the purpose of this post, reporters and commentators also suffer from a lack of diverse funding models, so they are all reliant on similar sources for revenue — thus compounding the aforementioned poor habits.
Today I’m pleased to be able to offer a partial corrective to all this. Medium has launched a new “Membership” feature, which is essentially a way for you to fund my journalism/analysis directly through Medium. Lots of people have been urging me to get a Patreon lately — think of this essentially as a Patreon *within* Medium. You can make a monthly contribution at whatever rate you wish; anything would be supremely helpful, and it will enable me to keep doing what I’ve been doing, with the added assurance of some longer-term sustainability. Click the link below to sign up!
The personal financial remuneration is of course nice, but I really do think this system serves multiple worthy goals. First, it makes me directly beholden to my readers, which means I am accountable to y’all, not some editor or publishing mogul. (No offense to the many wonderful editors I’ve worked with over the years!) And it also hopefully helps to spearhead new funding models that are proven workable, so others might follow suit.
Please note that being “beholden” to my readers certainly does not mean that I am going to “pander” to my readers. If you think I’m going to write things solely because I think it’ll placate my perceived online audience, you are wrong. If you would support me financially under that assumption, don’t bother. I will continue to write what I feel is true, and back up my assertions with facts, evidence, and reporting. That’s it.
I’ll also keep writing intermittently for other publications when apt, but my main daily focus will be on this “space.” I’ll attempt to incorporate first-hand reporting as much as possible, because I view conducting actual journalism as vital to buttressing one’s personal “punditry.” Sitting behind a computer and aggregating jokes on Twitter all day does not count; that’s what doomed so many media elites to failure. As one short-term example, I’ll be doing reporting on the ongoing deep state / Electoral College coup attempt, which is just wild.
The design of the “publication” is still under construction, but it should be looking more spiffy in the coming days/weeks. On the other hand, I enjoy Medium because it almost entirely removes the “technical” element from producing “content,” so I can focus on the work that I actually want to focus on rather than tedious behind-the-scenes stuff.
I’ll also continue my YouTube series in which I converse about important topics with relevant people. The response to these “chats” has been very heartening. Subscribe!
If you’d prefer not to make a monthly “commitment,” you can always give at your leisure via PayPal. A little birdie tells me that Medium may be launching an analogous feature sometime in the near future, but for now here’s the PayPal link:
My PayPal information is: mtracey8@gmail.com
If you prefer GoFundMe, here’s my “campaign” link:
Bitcoin wallet address: 1KTBufxZcFze7gnprkkE3BbJnVitCmSV2P
If there’s some other way you’d like to give, contact me at the same email address.
I sincerely appreciate everyone’s support. If you have any questions/comments/concerns/insults, feel free to tweet, DM, or email me.
Onward,
MT ❤
