The media is getting desperate… especially non-profit media.
If you thought Ira Glass embarrassing freeloaders during fund drives was effective, now High country News is getting aggressive too.
The CO-based publication, founded in 1970 by a Wyoming rancher and environmentalist, claims 25,000 subscribers and says its website gets 60,000 visitors each month. Its independent, research-driven reporting is paid for by reader donations, grant support, advertising and syndication sales.
But these revenue streams must be drying up, much like the west, as HCN has launched a somewhat fatalistic multimedia fundraising campaign.
Check out this video, which cautions potential donors that “the future of journalism is in your hands” (I can’t embed the video so you have to click on the link).
Do you agree with this grim scenario? How does this video make you feel? Obligated? Indifferent? Have you ever read High Country News?
Do you think the non-profit media will survive the current industry-wide attrition?
