A Personal Note From Jordan...Continued

Why Status Coup is necessary, why we need to survive, and why I need YOU. Please read this full message...the ball is in your court.

“Congratulations for always being somewhere where mainstream media is not” -Susan Sarandon

“It’s important that we avoid ‘crisis fatigue’…bravo to Jordan Chariton for not looking away”-Marianne Williamson

“One of the great journalists in the US on exposing corporate corruption is Jordan Chariton. Please support” -Steven Donziger

Hey folks, it’s Jordan.

Yesterday, I wrote to you—and got a little personal—explaining the urgent need to grow Status Coup’s paid membership in order to continue providing the same output and level of investigative and ON-THE-GROUND journalism. Cliffnotes version: we’re 3 people doing the job that truly requires 10-12 full-time staff…and WE NEED HELP!

Thank you to the 20 viewers who responded by signing up as paid members to Status Coup (as well as other viewers who made donations). But the truth is, we need to grow much more than that.

Today I want to remind people why Status Coup was created, why it is vital that we survive, and why if you are reading this and financially able to do so, I need you to sign up—for as low as $5 bucks a month—as a paying Status Coup member in order to help us hire a:

• Reporter

• Producer

• Social Media/Advertising

• Business administrative person

Having previously worked in corporate media in local news and at Fox News/MSNBC, I had years of up-close experience in the land of bullshit and distractions. I knew there was no mainstream, or even independent outlet that existed that cared enough—or saw enough profit—in covering forgotten communities, in covering victims of corporate and governmental poisoning, in covering worker exploitation and government corruption. But, through my reporting at The Young Turks, I learned up-close ON-THE-GROUND that there was a HUGE HUNGER out there for exactly that type of reporting. So we launched Status Coup with the vision to create that—and the determination to do it without corporate or oligarch funding. I also had the vision to grow Status Coup far beyond me as the face of it.

But if you noticed, the top of this email featured several well-known celebrities and activists praising yours truly for my reporting over the years. As much as I appreciate it, my goal has always been to create more versions of “me.”

Before you spit out your water of coffee, I don’t mean more LITERAL versions of me (lord knows one is enough!).

What I mean is…a mini-army of tenacious, no-bullshit, f*ck-the-echo-chamber, passionate journalists to challenge power, cover the stories 99 percent of other media ignore, and help lift the voices that corporate media will never speak to or elevate.

Unfortunately, we have never had enough funding to hire and create those new faces and voices—we’ve only had enough to use freelance reporters here and there. Unfortunately, we’ve never had enough funding to hire badly needed producers to help us polish and package our reporting (and provide more of it). Unfortunately, we’ve never had enough funding to hire badly needed social media/advertising professionals to help us reach millions of more people.

Unfortunately, nearly EVERY TIME we’ve reported on-the-ground in Flint, or East Palestine, or other communities, I knew if we could stay an extra few days we’d uncover and break major news…but we just didn’t have funding to do so.

But here’s a question…

WHAT IF WE DID?

WHAT IF…we were able to convert tens of thousands of viewers—many of you currently reading this—who currently watch Status Coup for free…to paid subscribers for as little as $5 bucks a month?

The answer is simple: we would be in great shape, due to consistent higher revenue, to not only hire more reporters and producers—but to then attract larger funding from folks who align with our values and vision (yes, there are some wealthy people in America that actually value the kind of reporting we do). If I can make the case to potential larger funders that we already have 10-20,000 paid members, Status Coup would be A LOT more attractive to then receive larger financial support.

The kind of support that would allow us to hire SEVERAL REPORTERS, the kind of support that would allow us to hire a TEAM of producers, social media, advertising, and business administrative staff—most important the kind of support that would allow us to expand the amount of stories we are able to cover and investigate ON-THE-GROUND across America.

WHAT IF WE COULD FUND A NETWORK OF JUSTICE JOURNALISTS?

Simply put, as humbly as I can say it, I believe in myself, I believe in my vision, and I believe in my judgment to identify and help mentor and build up new investigative journalists to become the premiere INDEPENDENT, ON-THE-GROUND, INVESTIGATIVE network in America.

So—it’s up to you. The ball is in your court. We have

• 247,000 subscribers on YouTube

• 79,000 Twitter followers

• 21,000 free subscribers to this Substack

But less than 2,000 paid members.

If we got our paid member numbers up to 10,000, I can hire another reporter, producer, and additional support. If we got our paid member numbers up to 15,000, we could go even futher.

You can sign up as a Status Coup member at different levels

• $5 bucks a month

• $10 bucks a month

• $20 bucks a month

• $179 dollars annually

Whatever works for you, the more of you who support us, the quicker we can grow Status Coup into the real journalistic force I know it can be. Already a member? You can also donate to help us grow.

Over the coming days, weeks, and months, we will pushing even harder as part of a new member campaign to sign up new members. This will include more emails, more videos, and more pushing on our livestream (if we don’t push, who is going to?)

I thank you for reading this in full—and I thank you for helping to keep Status Coup sustainable and alive.

Jordan