Ever since I began writing about political matters, reader support has been a vital means of enabling me to maintain independence and devote the vast bulk of my time and energy to what I do here. As I noted during last year's blog fund-raiser, this model of readership support for journalism and commentary is, in my view, very healthy. It permits one to remain accountable only to one's readers, which in turn means that no external agendas or interests can influence what is written, and the only real obligation is to maintain credibility with one's readership by offering honest, reliable, well-documented and completely independent analysis.
This model of readership support has spread rapidly as it has become increasingly difficult to sustain journalistic outlets. What was once the province of public radio stations -- donation-supported journalism -- is now used by countless political magazines, blogs, and journals. As a result of this model, WikiLeaks will be able to continue its important activities for at least the next year due to the outpouring of donations in the wake of its release of the Apache video. Even The New York Times has discussed ways to enable its readers to help sustain that newspaper through voluntary donations and other means of support.
Readership support not only makes the work I do here viable but also much more effective, as it enables much-needed assistance with research and other technological tools for research, writing, interviews, and appearances. Donating is, of course, entirely voluntary, and I hope only those who are actually able to do so decide to participate (alternatively, one can help support Salon generally by subscribing to a premium membership).
Those wishing to donate here can do so via Paypal with the Paypal button below, or for those who prefer it, can email me (GGreenwald@salon.com) for a physical mailing address. As always, I genuinely appreciate anyone who contributes here in any way -- commenting, reading, email feedback -- and deeply appreciate everyone who has helped to fund blog activities here in the past.
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