Friend,

In 2003, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and Condoleeza Rice hyped the disastrous Iraq War by warning that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Nearly every news outlet bought it, from The New York Times to NBC News to The Washington Post.

Every major news outlet but one: Knight Ridder.

Knight Ridder—then the second largest newspaper chain in America—had the one news team that got the story right. Their journalists saw through the Bush administration's B.S., and their coverage earned awards and inspired a Hollywood movie.

But today, Knight Ridder doesn't exist. The company was bought out by the McClatchy newspaper chain, which itself has since been downsized nearly out of existence. The death of Knight Ridder is just one step in the slow decline of the news media and our democracy—and it's why non-profit, independent journalism is needed now more than ever.

You see, there's one other news outlet that got the Iraq War story right: Common Dreams.

And we haven't gone anywhere. By relying on your donations rather than advertising and profit-seeking vulture capitalists, Common Dreams is still here, exposing the facts.

But to keep the flame of progressive, nonprofit journalism alive, we need to raise $100,000 by midnight on New Year's Eve. And we're thrilled that a generous anonymous donor has agreed to match every year-end gift to help us reach that goal.

Will you donate to help meet our year-end fundraising goal of $100,000? If you donate today your gift will be MATCHED by an anonymous donor. Please support Common Dreams now.  

With endless gratitude and solidarity,

Aaron Kaufman
Director of Development
on behalf of the entire Common Dreams team