This is Crowdsourcing Mornings! This post takes place every weekday morning and highlights one crowdsourcing project I liked from Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other crowdsourcing websites.
Please read our crowdsourcing guidelines at: https://geekalabama.com/media-kit-pr/geek-alabama-crowdsourcing-guidelines
A journalist-owned, wolf-proof home for independent media
An alliance of experienced, independent-minded journalists—veterans of the Awl, Splinter, Gawker, Deadspin, and a ton of other publications—have come together to build ourselves a new home. It’s a shared publishing platform collectively owned and operated by journalists, with no advertisers or investors to interfere with us doing our job: bringing you great journalism.
If you want to strengthen the independent press and help ensure its future, here’s your chance!
We don’t need to tell you how many valued publications have shuttered in recent years. Since 2008, almost 27,000 journalism jobs disappeared into thin air. And that was before the global pandemic—since then, another 36,000 journalists (and counting) have been furloughed, laid off, or taken pay cuts.
We’ve been told that “media is a business” and that prioritizing profits for investors and owners is “pragmatic.” But journalism is a public trust, not a get-rich-quick scheme. Alt-weeklies, local newspapers, award-winning digital outlets, beloved blogs—when these are raided or sabotaged, and when they fail, it leaves the whole culture poorer: more vulnerable to exploitation, less informed, less smart, and less fun.
So we’re not waiting for the next gang of Silicon Valley investors to roll up with the latest Trojan horse, telling us how they’re going to “save journalism.” We know all about geeks bearing grifts. We’ve learned again and again that when the perceived interests of investors, owners, or advertisers conflict with those of the independent press, it’s journalists and readers who get thrown under the bus.
Too many of our professional homes have turned out to be made of straw or sticks, and we don’t want to watch the next one get blown to smithereens. So we’re building our own—a house that will withstand even a gale-force wind.
Here’s what you should know about the Brick House:
- The Brick House has no owners, no executives, and no investors, only cooperative members holding shares in common; shares can’t be sold or transferred.
- The Brick House is ad-free: we are accountable to our readers alone.
- We’re a team of media professionals with decades of experience. We know what we’re doing and how to run this thing.
- The Brick House is structured as an Ohio cooperative, and each publisher gets one equal share. No publisher can own more than one share, so no member will have more of a say than any other.
- We’re starting small, so we can build slowly and carefully, but the door is wide open to bring in more projects as we grow.
- Our goal is sustainability and excellence, not wealth creation.
As of August 26th, this project has raised $16,000 of their $75,000 goal. This project has 29 days left to raise the $75,000 or it will not be funded. For a pledge of $5, you will get phone backgrounds. For a pledge of $10, you will get project updates and a newsletter. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1478924964/the-brick-house-cooperative?
