Mastodawn

Alex K.Mar 14, 2024

The investigative newsroom I work for, @ProPublica, is raising money right now. We report on abuses of power in the public interest - stories like corruption on the Supreme Court. It was the first outlet to win a Pulitzer for web-first journalism. And if you donate through this link, you'll let our team know that Mastodon is an audience to pay attention to. https://give.propublica.org/give/346528/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=mstdn #journalism #fediverse #mastodon

ProPublica

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Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

Holy wow - the Mastodon community really came through. This is huge, and makes a massive difference for our reporting. Thank you everyone - and thank you for showing how active and engaged this network is!

#fediverse #journalism #mastodon

@ben
Just sent a donation. Good journalism is worth it!

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@donaldham Thank you!!

I’m a frayed knot. ⛑️Mar 13, 2024

@ben donating is a great way to scrape the last few dollars off of things like unrefillable visa gift cards. Been looking for a way to clear it and not leave money on the table for the vampires that sell them!

Sean McCabe Mar 13, 2024

This is a great idea.

I’m a frayed knot. ⛑️Mar 13, 2024

@darthstar @ben thanks! I’m too salty to give up on it and let them keep the dregs. Donating allows you to set the price to whatever amount is left - wins all the way around!

Sean McCabe Mar 13, 2024

I can't tell you how many partial cards I tossed in the trash...I no longer use them but I will tell people I know who do that this is a great way to drain them off and it 'costs' them nothing.

Erin Conroy Mar 12, 2024

Done!

I've donated to ProPublica over the years (not as much as I ought, though!) & I strongly encourage my friends on here to donate now [use Ben's link!].

ProPublica is a great pro-democracy, anti-corruption resource here in the US & it would go a long way for them to know Mastodon is an audience aligned w/their work.

In that vein, I'd be super grateful if you guys had a Mastodon share button on your articles instead of, or in addition to, buttons for Twitter & Facebook.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@chargrille I've definitely been having that conversation!

Steven Zekowski Mar 12, 2024

@ben @chargrille
I’ve donated the last 2 years. Money well spent. Thank you for the valuable investigative journalism you and your colleagues do.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@steve_zeke @chargrille All my colleagues' work! I just help with the technology side.

Thank you very very much for donating!

Steven Zekowski Mar 12, 2024

@ben @chargrille
Your modesty is admirable and, although you’re not a journalist, I imagine they couldn’t succeed at what they do without your help. Please allow yourself a pat onto the back.

Erin Conroy Mar 12, 2024

Awesome! Thank you!

I saw ProPublica now has something like 115K followers on here, which is a lot for Mastodon! So I can only assume that means they have a quite large audience & a lot of support. Suspect we'd see more articles from any outlets who implement that share button!

Thank you all for your support for their invaluable work, which I have used & benefited from for more years now than I'd like to count.

Melissa Mar 13, 2024

@chargrille @ben @ProPublica yes to a Mastodon share button! Before I saw this, I filled out a contact form at EWG asking for that.

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica

Nothing like being told it's only my money that matters. Mastodon only matters to you if it means your "team" doesn't need to work hard to fund it.

Swallow your pride—sell some steak knives or whatever. The corruption of the Supreme Court is well and heavily covered by all your competitors. For free.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@_chris_real Hey! Our journalism is free to access. And I'm a decades-long part of the open social web movement - Mastodon is very important to me indeed. I didn't mean to offend with my framing.

We're on a funding drive because it's a non-profit (like other public media outlets). Nobody pays to read what we do.

And others may be covering it, but it was our investigation that broke the story.

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

You told me that your opinion of Mastodon depended on how much money they sent you. You can't squirm out of that judgement by claiming you're a non-profit—but you "really need" money.

Did you —really— "break a story" though? Or were you the first who published what was well-known, but many were struggling to make known?

Your whole "but still—Capitalism?!?" reeks of the monarchists who infest post-capitalist marketplaces. We also call them magats and fascists.

Stick to steak knives (at least it's honest), although I hear silver-infused bedsheets also do well.

Read Marcy Wheeler/emptywheel for examples of 'actual' no-one-pays journalism.

I am a musician. You've got nothing to school me with about working for free.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@_chris_real *I* didn’t do anything. But yeah, the journalists broke the story. By doggedly following it for a long time. That’s what ProPublica does: actual investigative journalism that takes a lot of resources to produce. There’s a pretty good article about what it took here. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-propublica-biggest-supreme-court-story.html

My Mastodon comment was really a flippant way of saying that I’d like Mastodon to show up in our stats.

But I seem to have got your goat,so I’d like to suggest we go our separate ways. Bye.

How the ProPublica Guys Broke That Huge Clarence Thomas Story

Documents were important. But humans brought it home.

Slate

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

Of course. Troll for more money. Our ways are not separate, but our means to our ends define us.

I will match your barely adequate investigating with Marcy Wheeler's any day. Your 'breaking' claims are pretty irrelevant. The truth was there—it matters not who was first, but who made it MATTER.

You come to us with hat in hand, but suggesting that getting my goat is a discourse ender. Maybe my goat was got when you decided to monetize your virtue. I suggest you re-evaluate your 'yeah-but-ish' mentality.

Yeah, just walk away. . .

Anil Dash Mar 12, 2024

@_chris_real Ask Marcy what she thinks of this kind of journalism — she'll tell you to support it. There is nothing noble in wanting important work to not be supported, or valuable labor to go uncompensated.

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

Having a representative of an org with NO presence on Mastodon come here saying 'Hey, if you give us money, maybe we'll like you' is offensive to me.

But since you butted in as a third party, picking a fight by proxy, maybe you shouldn't also put words in the mouth of people you haven't consulted.

Start your OWN fights, "big fan of big fans". You seem to hide behind others.

So I won't explain my objections to you. Make a post with your own opinion, see if people will respond. I doubt if I will.

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

I searched emptywheel for any references to Pro Publica—nothing in the past 4 years, maybe longer.

And Pro Publica is not hurting for money.

From wikipedia:

"ProPublica was the brainchild of Herbert and Marion Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, who have committed $10 million a year to the project.

"The Sandlers hired Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, to create and run the organization as editor in chief."

Anyone know how much Steiger makes?

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

Also:

"While the Sandler Foundation provided ProPublica with significant financial support, it also has received funding from the Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Atlantic Philanthropies. ProPublica and the Knight Foundation have various connections.

"For example, Paul Steiger, executive chairman of ProPublica, is a trustee of the Knight Foundation. In like manner, Alberto Ibarguen, the president and CEO of the Knight Foundation is on the board of ProPublica. ProPublica, along with other major news outlets, received grant funding from Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

"ProPublica has attracted attention for the salaries it pays its employees. In 2008, Paul Steiger, the editor of ProPublica, received a salary of $570,000."

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

So I'll make a deal with you, Big Follower. You give Marcy $1000, and the next time, I'll go easier on ProPub (who really doesn't need the money—only its lower-tiered journalists do).

Will you take the challenge?

Anil Dash Mar 12, 2024

@_chris_real can't tell if you're too stupid to realize how wrong you are, or if you don't know what "free" means.

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

@anildash .
Maybe you should make up your mind and stick with the story.

Your shallow opinion of those who disagree with you shouldn't be so all-encompassing as to be meaningless.

But at least you can apply it to anyone, right?

Stroll on . . .

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Mar 12, 2024

@_chris_real @ben @ProPublica

Chris Real Mar 12, 2024

@corbden @ben @ProPublica

Imagine thinking Pro Publica needs money:

"While the Sandler Foundation provided ProPublica with significant financial support, it also has received funding from the Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Atlantic Philanthropies. ProPublica and the Knight Foundation have various connections.

"For example, Paul Steiger, executive chairman of ProPublica, is a trustee of the Knight Foundation. In like manner, Alberto Ibarguen, the president and CEO of the Knight Foundation is on the board of ProPublica. ProPublica, along with other major news outlets, received grant funding from Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

[Sam Bankman Fried, y'all . . .]

"ProPublica has attracted attention for the salaries it pays its employees. In 2008, Paul Steiger, the editor of ProPublica, received a salary of $570,000."

Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦Mar 13, 2024

@_chris_real @ben @ProPublica no, in fact, Pro Publica's research has often offered the first reporting on important issues, which the big networks then picked up. I'm really thankful for their work! 🙏

From Robin with Love Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica ProPublica’s work exposing Alberto Salazar and the Nike mess was my first real exposure to your invstigative journalism. I’ve been consistently impressed with the work you all do. Happy to contribute.

Matt DeSiena Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica Just donated! Thanks for the link.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@theinstantwin Yay! Thank you!

miketcope Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica thanks for sharing, I donated

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@copito Thank you so much!

Steve Davidian Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica

Hi.

Just tried to donate but the site didn't let me select my state. It did take the zip and everything else.

Android, older os, on an LGv30.
Using Firefox.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@Stegosaurus @ProPublica Thanks for trying and I’m sorry it didn’t work- I’ll share with the team.

Jeri Dansky Mar 12, 2024

@ben Done!

I've donated most years in the past, but made a slightly larger donation just now.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@jeridansky Thank you so much!

Waylon Jeggings Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica done!

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@dustin Yay! Thank you!

Doug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica These folks do important - no, ESSENTIAL - work.

Slippery Cliff Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica done. I appreciate the call to action. I value both ProPublica and Mastodon.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@slipcliff Thank you so much!

Arlenecw Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica I have donated. Unfortunately, Mastodon is not one of the social media choices to share that.

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@Arlenecw @ProPublica That's something I plan to bring up with our donations vendor.

Arlenecw Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica to be fair, I’ve never seen a Mastodon link anywhere. By the way, I love @ProPublica

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@Arlenecw @ProPublica Thank you!!

A side project of mine is to make it MUCH easier to create "share to Mastodon" buttons. Different instance domains make it a harder problem - but we need them! This is a good push for me to finish up.

ferricoxide Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica

But only a "share to facebook" button??

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@ferricoxide @ProPublica Yuck! We'll give the donation platform that feedback.

Jared White (ResistanceNet ✊)Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica Pay no attention to the trolls! 🙄

We need to normalize people asking for money for journalism on Mastodon. Period. End of story. No additional preamble or context required. The End.

Thanks for all you do! 👏

Ben Werdmuller Mar 12, 2024

@jaredwhite Thank you!

Amanda Carson Mar 13, 2024

@jaredwhite @ben @ProPublica There's something people really do need to understand. Journalism done well has costs. The way you offset those costs is to give money. You can do that with subscriptions or you can do that with donations, but there still is no such thing as a free lunch. And Mastodon doesn't get a pass on this because it's flexing its anticapitalist muscles right now.

Heidi Li Feldman Mar 12, 2024

@ben @ProPublica I just donated, very happily. @PamelaBarroway

Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor Mar 13, 2024

@heidilifeldman @ben @ProPublica I did as well — always glad to support ProPublica’s stellar #journalism!

June Casagrande Mar 13, 2024

@PamelaBarroway @heidilifeldman @ben @ProPublica We give every year. And they're in my will. Literally.

Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor Mar 13, 2024

@junecasagrande @heidilifeldman @ben @ProPublica Wow! 💙💙💙