Please read this email (don't delete)

Friend, the brutal job losses in the news media industry continue to pile up. Here is the latest from Axios, in [an article published Tuesday morning](: Layoffs at [Vice]( (155 people), [Quartz]( (80 people), [The Economist]( (90 people), Condé Nast ([100]( people) and furloughs at Buzzfeed (68) and Condé Nast (another 100) were posted last week. Hundreds more are expected in coming months. These cuts join [36,000 other media layoffs]( that took place from March 15 to May 1 of this year, and [7,800 jobs that were lost in 2019]( even before the pandemic, and its economic fallout, had begun. Further, these losses are not part of a short-term blip that will quickly rebound. As the CEO of Quartz wrote to his employees in a recent memo: “[A]dvertising accounts for the bulk of our revenue, and that business has been hit very hard by the effects of coronavirus. Even after the pandemic recedes, the likely recession to follow could hurt ad revenue for years to come. Prior assumptions about our business no longer apply.” Worse still, the decline in advertising revenue goes beyond not only the pandemic, and beyond not only the recession that the pandemic has wrought. The decline is also directly connected to Big Tech, especially Facebook and Google, eating up more and more of digital ad revenue. As Vice Media's CEO [wrote in a company memo last week](: “[T]he squeeze is becoming a choke hold. Platforms are not just taking a larger slice of the pie, but almost the whole pie.” This is what Buzzfeed has dubbed "[a media extinction event](," caused by a three headed monster of the pandemic, economic depression, and Big Tech. The uncontrolled collapse of the news industry has serious ramifications for our democracy--and even our public safety. In a media landscape dominated by Fox News and social media, alternative facts, conspiracy theories and propaganda reign supreme. The rapid decline of independent media brings with it a rapid decline of a key mechanism that held the most powerful people in our country accountable. It hampers our ability to receive accurate information on how to contain the spread of COVID-19, resulting in the premature end of social distancing. Later this year, it could even lead to the re-election of Donald Trump. The only path forward for independent media to avoid layoffs--other than being bankrolled by a billionaire benefactor--is financial support from its community of readers. This is why small, grassroots donations have become Daily Kos's largest source of revenue in 2020. This has allowed us to continue to perform, uninterrupted, our crucial work of explaining the news and giving you impactful action to take on it. While so many others shrink, or even disappear, we keep going because of you, even during the pandemic, even during the economic downturn, and even as Big Tech takes over the internet. [Daily Kos is not immune to the challenges that many media outlets are facing. We have experienced high anxiety about our revenue since coronavirus took a hold in the country. Grassroots support from readers and activists like you, Friend, is now our largest source of income. That's why I am asking you to support Daily Kos -- so we can continue providing progressive news and the tools to make immediate action -- by starting a recurring monthly donation of $5 to Daily Kos today.]( [Can't chip in monthly? Click here to give $5 one time. Even the smallest donation helps](. Thank you for all you do, Chris Bowers Executive Campaign Director, 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. (Please note that we may be slow to process checks during the coronavirus outbreak.) Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.