It’s the latest sign that it’s harder than ever to run an online news outlet

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Yesterday, in the latest sign that it’s harder than ever to run an online news outlet, BuzzFeed News announced that it is shutting down.

Make no mistake: Common Dreams and BuzzFeed News are very, very different. We’re a nonprofit with the goal of igniting positive change for the common good. BuzzFeed is owned by a for-profit corporation that measures success based on its click rates, ad sales, stock price, and profit margins.

But we’ve faced many of the exact same pressures that killed BuzzFeed News, including rising costs, a global pandemic, and tech giants like Google and Facebook controlling ever more of the traffic on the internet and throttling traffic to news sites to serve their own ends. We mourn for every good journalist who loses their job under these conditions.

The bottom line is this: You now have to live in a world without BuzzFeed News. But ask yourself how you would feel if tomorrow, Common Dreams was gone for good.

As a nonprofit, all of our funding comes from you. You’ve never let us down before—which is why we’re still here—but our future is not secure without your ongoing support.

We must raise $80,000 by May 1 to meet our Spring Campaign goal. Every donation of any size matters immensely, so please chip in whatever you can to help keep Common Dreams alive and strong.