I believe that shifting our news and media ecosystem away from the profit model is essential, in order to rebuild trust & reduce systemic biases.
But we can't rely on billionaires and their foundations to fund things. For this to work, we have to support nonprofit media.
For #FollowFriday, I'm doing a longer thread about some nonprofit outlets. If you like their work, please consider supporting them.
(FYI: Mastodon supports temporary muting if you feel I'm spamming your feed.)
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First up is @ProPublica, for really going all-in on a meaningful presence in the fediverse. (Many of their reporters are here, too.)
You may remember them for their chilling reporting on family separations at the US southern border (content warning: child suffering).
They are not beyond critique (e.g., their recent reporting on the COVID lab leak theory has received significant criticism), but IMO definitely worth a follow.
Next up is @themarkup, a relatively new nonprofit outlet that covers Big Tech. An example of their work is this report (from last year) on how Amazon stacks the deck in favor of its own brands.
By being both the marketplace and a manufacturer, they can watch for trends, clone products, and outcompete smaller businesses:
I would love to see The Markup pay more attention to _alternatives_ to Big Tech, but their watchdog reporting is crucial. Definitely worth a follow.
Next up is @UnicornRiot, which covers social and environmental struggles from the ground up (US-focused but not exclusively so).
If you want to know about resistance against police brutality, against the rise of the far-right, or against cancerous capitalism destroying our planet -- I can think of few better news outlets to follow. Check out their incredibly rich reporting archives on the Dakota Access Pipeline as an example of their work:
Next up is @TheConversationUS, which takes the unusual approach of working with experts in academia.
If you've seen Vox.com explainers, it's a bit like that, except linked to academic institutions. Here's an example of their reporting on the recent fusion power breakthrough:
Of course, academic expertise and bias is worthy of critique too, but I find it's a very useful resource regardless. Note that they have multiple international editions.
The promise of abundant, clean energy powered by nuclear fusion is one big step closer thanks to a new experiment. The results are a historic scientific milestone, but energy production remains a ways off.
Next up is the @TexasObserver. If you're not in Texas, following a regional outlet may not feel relevant, but note that Texas is a hotbed of illiberalism and corporate capture in the US, and often foreshadows strategies and tactics that will play out elsewhere.
As an example of their reporting, see this award-winning story they did in partnership with Grist on zombie oil wells and their environmental impact:
https://grist.org/abandoned-oil-gas-wells-permian-texas-new-mexico/
Next up is @restofworld, which focuses on reporting "beyond the Western bubble". Note it's very much an extension of Big Tech wealth -- it's funded, founded & led by Eric Schmidt's daughter. I hope it develops into a reader-supported independent resource, but I would still recommend a follow, with appropriate scrutiny for where its blind spots may lie. Here's an example of their reporting on cryptocurrency "mining" in Kazakhstan:
https://restofworld.org/2022/crypto-miners-fleeing-kazakhstan/
That's it for today's #FollowFriday. I'll do another round of these as more nonprofit publications find their way into the fediverse.
During a longer sabbatical a few years ago I spent some time chronicling the state of the nonprofit media landscape in the form of capsule reviews. If you're interested in exploring more nonprofit outlets (including ones you may not be able to find here yet), you can find my review database here:
Erik Moeller
jonny (good kind)
Uncle Cid (They/Them/We/Us)