We’re so close to finishing off our funding goal, that we think we’re in the final month now.
To be honest, we’ve been here before. The last two and a bit years have been a journey and a half. Who thought it would take so long? We didn’t, but we also fully acknowledge that, when it comes to funding priorities, adding a new news source was never going to be a high priority for most.
We get that, we respect it, but we sure do need such a service, because the waters get muddier each day (and that’s nothing to do with water company discharges into our rivers and lakes!), with fake news and biased reporting seemingly becoming the norm.
We think part of the trouble is, selling how we can do news at all, let alone a newly launched service with our ambitions is a tough sell.
Many have, in fact, believed it to be a bit of a pipe dream, and, at times, we started to believe that too. But that is what the naysayers have wanted us to believe; it serves a lot of folk if we just give up and let the status quo go on.
But, slowly, inexorably, and together, we’ve chipped away at our funding goals, and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. And goodness what a long tunnel!
We’re now charging full-speed towards the end. We’re just £2,500 away, and we have you to thank for getting us here (or if we haven’t, can we ask you to chip in a few quid?)
We’ll be pushing hard this month to get us over the line. It’s important we get going now, because, despite all of our best hopes, we’ll need to keep the current government held to account as well, and make sure that those who’ve let us down in the past are held to account too.
The UK is at a weird place in its history right now. Storied institutions, like the BBC (to name but one) have had their very independence hacked away at, and their final funding model is still being undermined at every turn. Channel 4 were threatened, but have survived, though they also have serious challenges ahead as the ad market moves over to streaming.
It’s why we believe starting a new service is important, and starting it now is even more important.
Unlike the incumbents, we need to be lean, hungry and providing what they do not: hard facts, and genuinely holding power to account. Celebrity news is all well and good – and we all need something to smile about from time-to-time, but we also need the hard facts and data about where we are today, and where it will take us tomorrow.
Although we’re broadly about news, this is wider than that too.
The media landscape is changing rapidly. Broadcast, via terrestrial (through Freeview), or satellite (FreeSat and Sky) is rapidly giving way to streaming. Incumbent providers are there, but Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV and Amazon Prime Movies (amongst others) are slowly chipping away at how we consume our entertainment, and with it the network model as we know it today dies, and, along with it, how we consume news.
News consumption is already in trouble, because it’s not where consumers are (or it’s not there enough), and we believe we have the plan to get it there, and to do so before fake news wins out (and make no mistake, it is winning).
So, anyway, here we are, just a tiny bit away from starting. If you haven’t, please help us if you can to get the project over the line by donating here or joining us (as a member) here.
We’re closer than we’ve ever been, and we’re really looking forward to serving you and the wider news consuming world just as soon as we can.
