Hey John, it's Tara McGowan — Founder and Publisher of Courier Newsroom. As another year comes to a close, I’ve been thinking back to when I launched Courier, and how far we’ve come since then.

For far too long, we’ve watched mainstream news organizations prioritize profit over good journalism.

First, in 2016, Donald Trump won the White House, in part by using mainstream media outlets to sow division and spread lies, hate, and conspiracy theories.

Then, in 2020, right-wing disinformation campaigns about election security and fraud spread unchecked and directly led to the violence we all witnessed at the Capitol on January 6th.

I founded Courier on the belief that the best antidote to the spread of lies and conspiracy theories is increasing the volume of good, factual information in the online spaces where people actually get their news, like inboxes or social media feeds.

Together, we achieved so much this year, and I’m grateful that you’ve been a part of this journey. As 2023 comes to a close, and with the 2024 election on the horizon, my belief in the urgency and impact of our work is stronger than ever.

We’ve got big plans for 2024, from growing our existing newsrooms to branching out into new states — but our ability to put those plans into action depends in part on us reaching our end-of-year fundraising goal tonight. Will you chip in $5 today to help us raise the final resources we need to hit our $15,000 goal? [[link removed]]

The stakes for 2024 are high, John. Since 2020, Trump and MAGA Republicans’ rhetoric has only become more violent, more authoritarian, and more untethered from reality. It’s not an understatement to say that there is a possibility that a literal fascist could be re-elected to the White House.

Unfortunately, there’s still very little evidence that mainstream media organizations have learned from their mistakes of the past.

Rather than calling out lies and conspiracy theories for what they are, mainstream media has remained steadfast in an out-of-date model that covers “both sides” and platforms professional liars and grifters who do not have the best interest of our democracy at heart.

What’s more, is that as local newsrooms continue to close across the country, leaving more and more Americans in “news deserts” or communities without reliable, trustworthy local news.

As a result, right-wing bad actors have a huge opening to further spread misinformation to reach a much broader audience.

But because of the tireless efforts of our journalists, along with your generous support, we have been able to fight back in 10 battleground states across the country. And we don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. Because democracy is worth fighting for.

But our battle against bad information isn’t over though. To win this fight, we have to keep fighting back with good information every day — all of the way into the 2024 presidential election and beyond.

To do that, we’ll need to hire even more journalists, expand into new battleground states, and reach our $15,000 end-of-year goal. Your support makes all the difference in this fight, so will you pitch in $5 now? [[link removed]]

Chip in $5 ➡️ [[link removed]]

As always, thanks so much,

Tara McGowan
Founder & Publisher
Courier Newsroom

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