Re: Layoffs

Friend, over the past two decades, news media outlets have seen a sharp decline in what traditionally has been the largest source of income for most news media outlets: advertising revenue. Many news media outlets have tried a variety of alternative sources of income to stay afloat; many have erected paywalls, some like the Washington Post and Time Magazine were bought by billionaires, others like the [Huffington Post]( have been bought and sold to the highest bidder and then downsized to maximize profit; then there is [Buzzfeed]( that attempted to make a profit by becoming a publicly traded company. At Daily Kos, we survive and thrive because our model is different. Instead of being primarily funded by advertisers, large conglomerate corporations or controlled by a billionaire, we are primarily funded by the grassroots activists who make up our audience. That way, we only end up paying our bills if you think we are doing a good job of giving you a way to take meaningful action on the news stories you care about the most. That keeps you in control, not advertisers and not an uber wealthy billionaire with their own agenda. [That's why I am asking for your help. Daily Kos still needs to raise $27,488 by the end of the day tomorrow to reach our fundraising goal. Can you support our work by donating $5 today?]( [DONATE]( Thanks for all you do, Amanda McKay, Daily Kos --------------------------------------------------------------- [Friend, Daily Kos needs to raise $177,869 by the end of the month. Can you help us reach our goal by giving $5 today?]( [DONATE]( Last month, Daily Kos celebrated its 20th anniversary. That's pretty remarkable considering the state of the news media institutions over the past two decades. During the first decade of this century we saw a revolution in how people consume their news. Digital outlets, like Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and so many others sprang up all over the internet and experienced huge growth. Our stories and community posts were shared across the internet and more and more people flocked to be part of a new progressive community. However, during the following decade, we experienced a slow demise of our news media institutions, whether print, television or digital -- no one has been spared from the hemorrhaging of jobs. For years, many media outlets were able to rely on advertising revenue for income, but those same Big Tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google that helped spur growth started sucking up an ever-increasing share of the digital advertising market. Media layoffs reached a peak during COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. It was, as Buzzfeed put it; "[a media extinction event](." ThinkProgress, one of the largest and longest-running progressive news sites on the internet, was forced to shut down in 2019. In 2020, many more traditional, but still left-of-center, outlets like Vice, Vox, Huffington Post and Buzzfeed were forced to make layoffs, furloughs, benefit cuts, and pay cuts to stave off even greater layoffs. Daily Kos hasn't been immune from these financial troubles and have had to face some tough decisions. Instead of doing what some other media companies did – be acquired by some bigger corporation, find a billionaire backer, put up a paywall to bring in more revenue, lay off staff, or just close down entirely – we asked our community for help. The response was incredible, thousands of people giving just a few bucks at a time to help us make ends meet and pay the bills. This had the added benefit of not only allowing us to expand our work of bringing you progressive news you can do something about, but of making us accountable to progressive activists like you who pay our bills, instead of to a billionaire backer or large corporate benefactor [What started as an one-man blog venting into the ether about the George Bush administration grew into the country's largest progressive news and activism hub in the country. We not only has Daily Kos survived the past 20 years, but thrived thanks to the support of our Daily Kos readers and activists. That's why I am asking you to help us reach our June fundraising goal by donating $5 today.]( [DONATE]( Thanks 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](.