We’re now one week into our Annual TPM Membership which we do every year in March. Memberships are our life blood. Revenues directly from TPM Readers make up over 90% of our revenue. They keep our operation going and they also make us beholden to you. No one else. If you’ve already heard enough and you’re not already a member, please click here and join us.
If not, let me share a few other details with you.
This year we felt it was necessary to set what was really an absurdly high sign up goal: 2500 new members, more than twice the goal we set last year. It fit with our unfolding 25th anniversary celebrations. But the key was that we believe the need for what we do, amidst this harrowing climate of political predation and fear, is greater than it’s ever been during our twenty-five years. That means expanding our reach, both by expanding our reporting resources and bringing what we do to more people. Your memberships do that. They make that possible. To my great surprise, we’ve made it 50% of the way toward that goal in the drive’s first week. That’s stunning. The appetite is meeting the need.
I’ve written many times over the years about the importance of our independence. In normal times the importance of the kind of independence we have is more muted, less visibility. But these aren’t normal times. Publications owned by big diversified corporations are trimming their sales because their other business are so vulnerable to political assaults and regulatory harassment. Billionaire ownership which once seemed rooted in noblesse oblige now displays the most naked oligarchic interest. We’re very small. But we don’t have those vulnerabilities. There’s no outside ownership. There’s no corporation that’s going to lose interest in journalism, which is mostly a breakeven proposition in the first place, and simply shut us down. We answer to our readers. Literally and figuratively. As long as you are satisfied with what we produce, as long as you think we’re worth the price of a subscription, nothing else can touch us. We work for you and we’re accountable to you. Right now that’s irreplaceable. As long as we have your subscription, the chaos of the publishing and news economies are meaningless to us, the pall of fear that blankets the political world doesn’t matter to us.
We think this is important and we hope you agree. If you’re ready to join us, just click right here. For the length of the drive you also get 25% off your membership.
Thank you.
