"This is great reporting, but..."

It always comes back to the money. MoJo Reader, In more than 13 years as a reporter, I've done just about everything. I covered a giant pumpkin regatta. I raced through a New Hampshire snowstorm with an iced-over windshield to get an election result that a town clerk wouldn't release over the phone. And I was tossed from a Donald Trump [rally]. But I've never done this: write a fundraising email [asking readers for tax-deductible donations to support our work]. After Monika and Clara [used] my reporting on Trump's massive conflicts of interest to make the case for your year-end donations, we thought I might be able to add something to their pitch. I'll admit that it feels a bit weird to ask for your hard-earned money. But I'm damn lucky to be reporting for ­Mother Jones, a kick-ass, reader-supported nonprofit. So if that's what it takes to keep us in the game, count me in. There are several reasons I'm fortunate to write for MoJo. As long as I've been a reporter, I've gravitated toward stories that stir up trouble for powerful people. When your job is to find out what the powerful prefer to keep secret, it's inevitable you will cause a fuss. And Mother Jones doesn't just encourage this type of reporting; muckraking is in our DNA—as an institution and as individual journalists. I'd bet it's what you're looking for as well. Because we answer to you instead of deep-pocketed funders or advertising revenue, we can make good on those instincts and go after big stories that truly reveal information the public needs to know. It's what you expect us to do. It also means we don't need to cater to the people in power or to preserve access to them. That's not what interests me. We're interested in a simple mission—digging out the truth—and [your tax-deductible donation today will help us do that]. Your support gives me and other reporters the stability and job security to go deep. Trump's personal finances are inherently complex, intentionally hard to sort out, and camouflaged by his outlandish and self-aggrandizing claims. There's so much we don't know about his business empire, finances, and conflicts of interest that it's mind-boggling. So it takes time to get at what's really going on. I started digging into his business dealings in July 2015—when much of the media was dismissing him as a serious candidate—with a story about an [unsavory business partner] he had in Azerbaijan. And I've kept on digging since then. Monika and Clara have more details on that [here], but there's one really important point they don't go into. Not many media outlets back then were taking Trump's conflicts and troubling deals seriously enough—though some began to do so after the election. And at some publications, an editor likely would have said, "Russ, this is great reporting, but it's not making the advertising revenue we need to keep on going." Instead, my editors encouraged me and gave me the free rein to pursue fiercely this important subject. Until the election, I produced a series of pieces exposing Trump's deals at home and abroad that would pose ethical and legal issues. We were among the first to report on his potential constitutional problem—[the emoluments clause]. And as he prepares to take office, we're continuing to go through his byzantine finances and tracking all the special-interest appointees he's [installing] in his administration. That kind of encouragement and support is increasingly rare in newsrooms today. There's a lot of good reporting these days, but at so many places, reporters are working in an atmosphere of anxiety. Will there be cutbacks? How long will the new owner last? What are his or her motives? Will investors turn against the company if there's a sign of trouble? If I push too far, will the editors and owner have my back? I don't worry about that at MoJo. I know that our readers, who are our financial backers, only care about the news we produce. I know that when we pursue a story, we don't have to worry about angering a corporate cousin in the conglomerate. We don't have to worry about editors pushing caution or acquiescence. I know that if I do my job right, [readers will see the value in our independent and fierce reporting and pitch in what they can to support it]. As we cover the conflicts and special-interest influence that's rampant in the new administration, it's important that we don't feel constrained. As a nonprofit supported by readers, the only limit we encounter is the amount of money we have to pay for our reporting. And we have a lot of reporting to do. So I hope you'll [help us do it with a tax-deductible one-time] or [monthly donation today]. Thanks for reading. Thanks for helping me do the hard-charging investigative journalism I love to do. It's a pleasure and an honor reporting for committed and smart readers like you. Russ Choma Reporter, Washington, DC, bureau P.S.: If you've donated in the last several hours, please accept our apologies for sending you this reminder—the database is slow to catch up. And thanks! [DONATE TO MOTHER JONES] --------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To stop receiving email from Mother Jones or manage your subscription preferences, click [here]. --------------------------------------------------------------- [www.MotherJones.com] 222 Sutter Street, #600 San Francisco, CA USA 94108