Friend,

During the disastrous wildfire season of 2018, freelance journalist Elon Green went on Twitter to ask why the news media didn't treat the climate emergency as the urgent crisis that it is.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes (who, to his credit, has done some of the best climate coverage on cable TV) replied, “Every single time we've covered, it's been a palpable ratings killer.”

It's the sad truth: The corporate appetite for ever-higher ratings, clicks, and ad dollars is so great that even good reporters like Chris Hayes feel the pressure to bend their news judgment to the demands of the market.

And so the for-profit corporate news industry ignores the greatest threat to humanity since the invention of the nuclear bomb and hands the airwaves over to livestreaming Donald Trump's latest rally.

That's why Common Dreams is so needed in today's world.

We don't rely on corporate advertisers or hedge fund investors to pay our bills. We rely on you, our readers. That means we have the independence to go where our news judgment takes us without chasing ratings and clicks. But it also means we need you to step up and donate so we can keep paying rent, reporter salaries, and for other basic needs.

If you value the hard-hitting reporting we do on the climate emergency and other issues ignored by the corporate media, please make a donation today and help meet our year-end fundraising goal of $100,000. Your gift will be MATCHED 100% by an anonymous donor!

Thank you,

Kimberly Monaghan
Board Chair
for the whole Common Dreams news team