Jack, to say it has been a brutal year for news outlets is an understatement. An uptick in layoffs within the news media started in 2020, during the pandemic and an economic downturn. However, as the pandemic eased, news media layoffs never did. News outlets were rocked by a record number of layoffs in just the first six months of this year.

The mass amount of layoffs is not just detrimental to the individual news outlet, it greatly affects the quality of information that the public receives.

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The financial hardships mostly stem from an industry that was built around a single source of revenue: advertising. Unfortunately, Big Tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are sucking up an ever-growing share of advertising dollars, and even controlling access to advertising revenue.

The solutions to stymie the economic woes that plague news outlets are not ideal. As mentioned, there are budget cuts and layoffs, finding a billionaire backer, being bought and sold to the highest bidder, paywalls and expensive subscriptions, or answering to shareholders. Every solution comes with a tradeoff.

Daily Kos went in a different direction: We asked our community of readers and activists to support our work by donating a few dollars at a time. In fact, grassroots donations now make up over 60% of our total income. Honestly, we prefer it this way because it makes us accountable to you—not to some billionaire or corporation with their own agenda. We know that in order to keep operating, we have to fight and deliver for what you believe in.

Looking at future trends, we don't expect our advertising revenue to return the peak levels of just a few years ago. We are now dependent on the generosity of our readers and activists to power our work.

Daily Kos needs to raise $181,188 by the end of December to reach our fundraising goal. Please support our work with a donation of $5 or more today.

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Thank you for all you do,
Amanda McKay, Daily Kos

If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible.