Announcing a new reporting priority

It's what the moment calls for. MoJo Reader, For a few months, we've been trying to figure out the best way Mother Jones can tackle what I think is the most significant threat our democracy faces right now. It's not just President Donald Trump. It's not conflicts of interest, dark money, or corruption. It's not even a broken media landscape that incentivizes outrage and sensationalism when accountability journalism is so desperately needed. This issue transcends—and exacerbates—all of that. What I believe needs more reporting firepower right now is the rise of disinformation—who's behind deception and manipulation, and how technology allows these to proliferate in secretive, incredibly fast, and effective ways. We've never seen anything quite like this before. So we want to do something we've never done: build a team dedicated to tracking and exposing the forces behind disinformation as a new reporting priority before this fall's midterms. To do it, we need to raise $100,000 we didn't plan on—by June 30. If you're already on board, [I hope you'll make a tax-deductible donation to help us fight disinformation today](. But you're a MoJo reader, and we've found that you want us to respect your intelligence and lay out the bigger picture when asking for your support. So if you'd like, you can [read our plan here](. There are lots of ways to get involved beyond just [supporting]( our investigation. As I write in [my new piece](, the flood of disinformation out there is daunting—and that's by design—but it's not beyond our control. There is a lot of new research on how to counter disinformation. Some recommendations across many of those studies: expand independent news organizations, improve journalistic quality, and increase news literacy. That describes what Mother Jones and a good many other news organizations are already doing. But I don't think what we're already doing is quite enough. We have to confront disinformation directly, and constantly. Our leaders, from politics to technology, won't fix the problem—they benefit from a broken system. So it's on the rest of us, and I hope I can count on you to [help kick-start this new, absolutely critical project](. A key part of our plan is hiring a data scientist and a full-time reporter and giving them the support of our newsroom so we can tackle the spread of disinformation with all the firepower we can muster. We're also looking for readers like you to help us spot disinformation before it's too late. This isn't something we planned to do, but it's what the moment calls for. And we can only do it if we raise $100,000 more than we planned by June 30—the end of our fiscal year—so we can ramp up before the midterms. Practically, that means we need to raise $350,000—because rather than just sticking with what we budgeted, we decided to do what Mother Jones has always done: Go all in on the stories that rattle the foundations of our democracy, and that not a lot of other newsrooms are tackling. And I'm confident you'll help us get off to a strong start by doing what MoJo readers have done since we were founded as a nonprofit in 1976: [support our unwavering, fearless journalism by making a tax-deductible donation](. You can read more about how, together, we can mount a formidable fight about the rise of disinformation [here](—and whether you're able to pitch in or not, I hope you'll get involved. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make Mother Jones what it is. Monika Bauerlein, Chief Executive Officer Mother Jones P.S. If you've donated in the last several hours, thank you! And please accept my apologies for sending you this reminder. [DONATE]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To stop receiving Mother Jones' fundraising and subscription emails, or manage your preferences for our emails, click [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [www.MotherJones.com]() 222 Sutter Street, #600 San Francisco, CA USA 94108