Please read this important email about the future of Daily Kos.

Friend, as Chris mentions in his email below, over 16,000 newsroom jobs were lost in 2020. Worse, 2021 isn't looking any better, with HuffPost being the latest to announce sizable layoffs. Unfortunately, mass newsroom layoffs are not isolated to the recent economic downturn. The COVID-19 pandemic merely accelerated a long-term trend of job losses at media companies. For over a decade now, news companies, local and national, have been hemorrhaging jobs as Big Tech companies suck up more and more of the advertising revenue. Daily Kos is not immune to the hardships that almost every other media company faces. However, what we do have is a different solution to the same problem. The reason why we have not had to layoff any employees or cut salaries is in large part because of you, Friend. When we were faced with some difficult decisions several years ago, we reached out to Daily Kos readers and activists and asked them to support our work, a few bucks at a time -- and it worked! As a result, while most other media companies laid off staff, we were able to add staff, grow our audience, and expand the reach of our grassroots activism. [Because of our thousands of grassroots donors, not only has Daily Kos not had to make any cuts in hard times, we have thrived. Help make sure that Daily Kos is always around to provide news you can do something about by becoming a monthly donor at $5 a month.]( [If you can't give monthly, consider giving a one-time donation of $5, $10, $25 or whatever you can afford to help support the work we do here at Daily Kos.]( Thank you for all you do, Amanda McKay, Daily Kos --------------------------------------------------------------- Friend, brutal job losses in the news media continue to pile up. The latest comes from HuffPost, which announced Tuesday that [nearly 30 percent of its unionized staff]( would be laid off. The layoffs come after the worst year ever for news media, with a stunning [16,160 newsroom jobs]( lost in 2020. Worse still, these jobs losses aren't a temporary downturn brought on by the pandemic—they're an acceleration of a trend that has been gutting newsrooms since the 2000s. The simple fact is that the news media is mostly supported by ad revenue, and that revenue is now going to Big Tech companies. Amazon, Facebook and Google took [nearly two-thirds]( of online ad revenue last year. So, while tech giants grow ever-larger from often fact-free social media, news outlets are being run into the ground and writers, fact-checkers and editors are losing their jobs. As Vice Media's CEO wrote when his company was forced to make layoffs last year: "[T]he squeeze is becoming a choke hold. Platforms are not just taking a larger slice of the pie, but almost the whole pie." For many outlets, there appears to be only one option: Get a billionaire to bankroll you, and become that billionaire's plaything. That's the grim future faced by much of the news media. Fortunately, at Daily Kos, we have developed a different solution. Small, grassroots donations from readers and activists like you are Daily Kos's largest source of revenue. This has allowed us to continue to deliver the news and action you expect from us despite Big Tech's rise, the pandemic and the recession. Better still, it's allowed us to remain a news outlet independent of some billionaire backer's personal agenda and has instead made us accountable to you. [Daily Kos is not immune to the pressures facing the news media, but we have been able to survive the storm battering news outlets—and even to grow our programs and staff—because of the financial support of our readers and activists. That's why I'm asking you to start a $5 recurring monthly contribution to Daily Kos today. It's literally the most powerful thing you can do to support our work.]( [Can't donate monthly? Please consider donating $5 one time by clicking here.]( In solidarity, Chris Bowers, 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](.