I'm on the road, so I have to keep this short, but let me say that I agree with Steve and I'd be even more strident if I had time today to write a whole post. It's not only just time to start formulating not "new ideas" but actually implementing them. Do you think Mr. Rich Ranger Republican whines when Rove calls and says, "I need you to give us $100K stat, we've got a meme problem and I need to pay some journalists to crush it before people start talking about it?" No, he coughs it up. If you really trust the blogosphere to do a better job telling you the truth, then it's time for you to consider, and express your support by agreeing to commit to a subscription or other regular donation, for the first bunch of bloggers to put together a reporting-centric site with funded investigations. It's not like the Democratic Party is going to do it for you, and frankly, after six years of reading Atrios, FDL, Kos, etc., I'd really like all the talent out there to be put to a greater use instead of reading the same "the media lies!" headlines day in and day out :

I mean, it's great Clinton hired Peter Daou, but there are people who want to report and not work for pols and they need options as well.

We can build our own media, but we have to build it.

This is what I wrote to the annoying posters on Kos shooting at this idea.

Folks, this is a discussion where most of you don't know what you're talking about.

Booman wants to make a living so he can give YOU a better product. I can take money and buy books and pay for services like Times Select, so you don't have to. I can support other bloggers. I can buy equipment. But I am still far from paying for reporting.

I've been very lucky, but y'all need to get over the idea that this can be done for free. Slashdot is a profit making enterprise for a reason. It costs money.
So does blogging. Because it takes time to actually research topics, go places and the like.

Reporting is expensive. It cost money to go places and the more people who can do this full time, the better the work you'll get.

If you want punditry forever, this is a perfect system. But if you want real reporting, from trained people, it isn't going to be cheap and you need to realize that now.

Here's what a full time blogger can do: not worry about a boss, post on a constant basis, actually report on stories away from their desk.

You want the benefits of blogging, but act like it's some kind of sin to actually invest time and money in it.

As far as building the site, the man is asking for help, and the people who jumped on him should be ashamed. How many of you work this hard at anything, including a blog? Why should he have to take a vow of poverty to keep you informed, because you can't make extra money when you have a blog to keep up, no side jobs and blogging. You can't exactly work, blog and freelance.

Oh yeah, speaking of freelancing, check on TAPPED's rates and see how many pieces they would have to buy for you not to be broke.

I refused help and money for a long time, until my readers said I needed to get paid for what I did. It wasn't my idea. But they were right.

And the people who say get a job should try full-time blogging, and then we can talk about what a job is.

People cannot do this for free. Money makes for a better product and if you want to build a new media, it has to be built. And you have to help do it, not jump down someone's throat because they came to you for help.

This isn't about the model, although I think a real publication by bloggers could blow Salon and TNR out of the water given the quality of the work here, but about the idea.

And instead of ripping it apart while you sip Starbucks at work, why not think of a way to make it happen?

posted by Steve @ 2:23:00 AM