I Try Not to Do This...
PLEASE read this full email
Hey folks, it’s Jordan.
I don’t know about you, but I am dizzy from the amount of emails I get with politicians and media outlets asking me for money. Of course, some are more worthy of others, but DAMN is it hard to sort through my inbox to get to work-related emails!
That’s why we at Status Coup try very hard NOT to inundate you with emails asking for money (compared to other media outlets, our emails skew MUCH MORE toward content). As a result, when I write an email directly asking you for support, I hope it is more meaningful and persuasive.
That’s why today, I am asking every person who reads this—who is capable financially of doing so—to do one of two things.
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
There is NO OTHER INDEPENDENT outlet in America that consistently covers the scope of important—and often ignored—stories that Status Coup covers ON-THE-GROUND ACROSS AMERICA.
Over 6 years, we’ve:
Covered NEARLY 100 pro-Palestinian Ceasefire protests in NYC, D.C., Chicago, and LA (thanks to Jon Farina)
Reported ON-THE-GROUND in East Palestine, Ohio seven times in the year and a half since Norfolk Southern unnecessarily detonated a chemical bomb of toxic, cancerous chemicals over Ohio, Pennsylvania, and beyond.
Stayed on the Flint water crisis and cover up with over 10 reporting trips to Flint; investigative reporting that led to my new book “We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up”—and if there is a God, might one day lead to a major movie (working on it).
Led the way on covering the labor and worker resurgence, covering the historic UAW strike ON-THE-GROUND for three weeks in 2023 in Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois; the historic Amazon workers union drive in Staten Island; the historic Starbucks workers union drive in Buffalo, and the historic John Deere workers strike in Iowa and Illinois in 2021.
Done countless ON-THE-GROUND reporting trips covering the economic and societal devastation during the early stages of the COVID pandemic as well as similar reporting trips focusing on regular folks’ struggles due to inflation.
Even when not on-the-ground, CONSISTENT reporting on the “non-sexy” stories few others touch: environmental genocide, worker exploitation, local corruption, and more.
We’ve managed to do this essentially with one full-time reporter (me), one producer/editor (Colin), one videojournalist (Jon), and rotating freelancers—when we can afford it. But here’s the catch: 99% of outlets can’t consistently cover—much less afford—everything I just outlined (and the above is just SOME of what we have covered and SOME of where we’ve traveled).
SHORT & SWEET: we’re reaching burnout folks.
I need help in the form of an additional reporter or two. Colin needs help so he’s not working around the clock. And Jon can’t be the only videojournalist for all protests and/or reporting trips. I wish it was easy and seamless to just find a progressive with a massive wallet to shower us with money with zero strings attached. A las, those folks don’t grow on trees. We have ambitions in the near term and long term to:
Take an ON-THE-GROUND reporting trip through the swing states (MI, PA, WI) before the presidential election.
BE ON-THE-GROUND after the election in the event of any tumult and/or “Stop the Steal” 2.0.
Into 2025, EXPANDING our coverage of environmental genocide and government corruption rampant across America.
Into 2025, EXPANDING our coverage of union organizing, worker strikes, tenants unions, mutual aid, and more.
EXPAND to balance out the channel more (I don’t know about you, but with all the horrible news we report, it would be nice to mix it up with some more comedic hosts and variety shows to lighten things up).
Make website improvements as well as potentially develop a Status Coup app.
Unlike many other independent outlets, I am not going to hit you over the head with a gazillion emails a month asking you for resources (even though we probably should send out more). The truth is: you have your own stress and economic issues to deal with and don’t need us constantly in your email box.
It is with that that I sincerely ask you…
If you are not yet a PAYING monthly Status Coup member, is there something you spend $5-10 bucks on a month that can potentially be redirected to ON-THE-GROUND JUTICE JOURNALISM? If so, SUPPORT US:
And if it’s within your means, can you donate any amount—big or small—to help us achieve these short term and long-term goals?
Thanks for considering and your help,
Jordan