Dear Readers,
Here’s some good news for supporters of independent journalism — our debut project with Spot.Us is a success.
Thanks to your collective, aggregated donations, we tipped the scale last Tuesday afternoon, bringing us to our $2,500 goal.
The whole campaign ran for a bit more than a month. We’re quite wowed by this enthusiastic response!
The funding will be used to pay a team of freelance reporters who will be fact-checking election advertisements aimed at influencing San Francisco voters on Election Day.
Our aim is to cut through the fog, the emotional appeals and deceptive/selective factoids, and give citizens all the information they need to make informed decisions at the polls.
Perhaps the most exciting news of all? The coverage kicks off tomorrow!
We’re developing this material in cooperation with our colleagues at The San Francisco Public Press, and all our reporting will be available on our Web sites, as well as part of a weekly broadcast on KALW-FM, a local public-radio station.
We will be undertaking future journalism-fundraising projects with Spot.Us, so stay tuned for updates.
Finally, let me thank you for helping take a remarkable step toward reversing years of disinvestment in journalism in our communities.
This is a crisis that affects our entire democracy, but you are helping turn the tide.
Our work in San Francisco is just the start of something bigger. Thank you again, and stay tuned!
Josh Wilson
Editor * Newsdesk.org