Friend, i'm personally asking you to help Daily Kos

Friend, last year, as the country was reeling from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout attributed to it, news media outlets saw a spike in layoffs, furloughs and salary cuts -- some outlets even shuttered their doors completely. As our economy started to recover, the pace of media layoffs slowed, but didn't rebound like in many other industries. It's likely that many of the media jobs that were lost last year will never return. The fact is, that news media companies have been shedding jobs for over a decade as outlets try to make ends meet with shrinking revenue. There are two primary reasons why this is happening. The first is the astronomical growth of Big Tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Facebook that have [dominated]( digital advertising. The second is the [buying and selling]( of news media companies to the highest bidder, which is often followed by downsizing to maximize profit. Daily Kos is different. Instead of advertising, we depend on small donations from our readers to pay our bills. Also, we don't have big corporate sponsors or billionaire backers who see media outlets as just another way to increase their bottom line. Instead, we have you, and thousands of readers and activists like you, each chipping in a few bucks a time to support our work. [That's why I'm asking you to start a $5 monthly recurring donation to Daily Kos today.]( Starting a monthly recurring donation is the most powerful thing you can do to support Daily Kos. Every donation helps us make ends meet, and recurring donations help us see how much we can expect to come in month after month. In an age when news outlets are hemorrhaging jobs, being able to do this sort of long-term planning is huge. It helps us budget for hiring new staff, making upgrades to the website, and running advocacy campaigns like supporting President Biden's agenda and fighting right-wing attacks on voting rights in state legislatures. [Daily Kos relies on readers and activists like you to make ends meet. We don't have big corporate sponsors or billionaire backers propping us up—our biggest source of income is everyday people donating just a few bucks at a time. Can you start a $5 monthly recurring donation to help us keep fighting?]( [Can't donate monthly? Click here to donate one time.]( Thank you for all you do, Amanda McKay, 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](.