Newsdesk.org: Putting Down Roots

[nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net]

We've raised $350 towards our goal of $2,000. That's how much Newsdesk 
needs to continue publishing News You Might Have Missed through the end 
of the year.

Our email list is just under 2,000 subscribers. Please spread the word 
and help this project grow. The more folks who know about our work, the 
more effectively we can achieve our funding goal and continue our 
important public-service work:

      Donate here:
      https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695

      New subscribers -- sign up here!:
      http://lists.artsandmedia.net/mailman/listinfo/nymhm/


Why is your support so vital?

For one thing, while we are working with grant consultants and 
cultivating allies in foundations, we've come to understand that 
foundations have their own agendas, issues, concerns and needs.

As valuable as their support is, we can't count on foundations to pay 
for this important journalism service -- and neither can you.

If we want to build true alternatives to the world of mass-marketed 
"infotainment," we're going to have to do it ourselves.

      Donate here:
      https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695


Newsdesk.org was created by "mainstream media" journalists who hit the 
hard limits of their day jobs in commercial publishing.

I was an entertainment editor at SFGate.com, the Web site of the San 
Francisco Chronicle, where my job was to write snappy headlines about 
Brittney Spears, and other pop-culture flavors of the moment.

At the Gate, a well-financed and exciting workplace, I tried to 
establish a new program of public health reporting, with an initial 
focus on chemical and industrial pollution in the San Francisco Bay.

Needless to say, the idea went nowhere.

Regardless of the value of such reporting, it was not viewed as a good 
economic bet for a mainstream, urban news Web site.

Eventually, I chose to resign, rather than spend the next 25 years 
using my talent and training as a journalist to make jokes about pop 
stars.

Since then, Newsdesk has established itself as a leading source of 
"important but overlooked news," including groundbreaking coverage of 
issues that the commercial press picked up months or years after the 
fact -- including the FCC, net neutrality, faith-based politics, 
Nigeria's oil strife and veterans' health care.

      Donate here:
      https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695

      Newsdesk article links:
      http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/003263.html


In 2001, Jen Anderson, founder of News You Might Have Missed, was an 
employee of MTV's online division.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, MTV confronted the issue of war and 
terrorism by slashing its news budget, including its entire online 
staff.

As an unemployed media worker in a nation in desperate need of a 
reliable and broad diet of world news, Jen took a trip of Europe, 
hungry for new perspectives.

While overseas, she noticed that foreign news media provided a window 
into issues that simply didn't turn up in U.S. newspapers, nor on 
television, or even the Internet.

"What we need is a newsletter," she said, upon returning, "that rounds 
up all this news nobody's getting here in the States."

Thus, in February 2002, was born News You Might Have Missed, bringing 
you "Important but overlooked news from around the world -- and your 
own backyard."

      Donate here:
      https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695


Everyone who's gotten involved with Newsdesk.org has a story like this. 
We'll share them with you in the coming weeks and months.

But meanwhile, with the 2008 elections looming, we are more determined 
than ever to dig in, build our foundation, and put down roots that can 
sustain the type of nonpoliticized and diverse news coverage without 
which no democracy can survive.

We'll keep you apprised this fall and winter on our plans and hopes for 
2008.

Thank you again for your support and participation!

      Donate here:
      https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695


Sincerely,

Josh Wilson
Editor * Newsdesk.org
http://newsdesk.org/
415/861-5302

p.s. You can also make a tax-deductible donation by sending a check or 
money order (do not send cash!) payable to Independent Arts & Media to:

	Newsdesk.org/Independent Arts & Media
	PMB 821
	601 Van Ness Ave, Ste. E
	San Francisco, CA  94102