I Want To Get Personal On This One

Why what we do matters. And what we as journalists go through to show you the actual truth of America. I hope you read this full note.

Hey folks, it’s Jordan.

I wanted to take a moment to highlight Status Coup’s UNPARALLELED coverage that NO OTHER OUTLET—corporate or independent—has done covering the Ceasefire protests and now student protests than Status Coup.

I also wanted to get a little personal…

Specifically, since October of last year, video journalist Jon Farina has covered nearly 50 pro-Palestinian Ceasefire protests in NYC as well as in D.C. He has been out there—in the cold, in the rain, early morning, at 2 a.m.—often going live for 3-4 hours at a time and then staying out for several hours to record more footage. He does this—we do this—because we feel it is important to show you the growing awakening, and solidarity, forming in America among young people and many older people against U.S.-funded genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We also have Jon out there because you WILL NOT see powerful truth like the footage Jon shot yesterday coming from ANY corporate media outlet in America.

“This is fascism, we are living in fascism! We give too much power away, you don’t have to do what they say. We have rights! We have the right to assemble, we have the right to discuss, we have the right to protest, we have the right to end genocide!" -protester outside Fordham University student protest for Gaza in NYC on May 1st, 2024.

2,500 miles west, Tina-Desiree Berg arrived at the UCLA student protests at 10 a.m. pacific time on May 1st…and is still there now as I write this at 6:45 a.m. pacific time on May 2nd. For those of you good at math, Tina has been reporting from growingly VIOLENT protests on campus—where LAPD have been shooting rubber bullets at student protestors— for 21 straight hours (we will turn around her incredible footage as soon as humanly possible).

“I’m about to pass out, I’ve been up 25 hours,” Tina just texted me.

To get a little personal for a moment: I can tell you, from personal experience, how exhausting—physically, mentally, and emotionally—to report from these kind of protests. Back in 2016, I remember working 17-20 hour days reporting from the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. I remember not eating or going to the bathroom 6-10 hours because the action and chaos literally would not stop. I remember finally getting to bed at midnight after working 16 hours and an activist waking me up two hours later: “shit’s going down on the bridge” and, in a half-conscious state, rushing with my cameraman to the bridge near where pipeline construction was happening to make sure we didn’t miss a standoff between police and protesters.

The story was not about me, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take an incredible toll on me physically and emotional. Covering Standing Rock, on and off for six months with seven trips back and forth to North Dakota, and walking—and running—up hills and steep terrain (with a bad back) as police brutalized water protectors definitely led to my urgent need for back surgery in 2018 (and another in 2019). Frankly, although there was a lot of beautiful moments I covered at Standing Rock, there was also a lot of horror. Of course, what I experienced was nothing in comparison to the Native Americans having their land desecrated by a greedy fossil fuel company; who were also having their water threatened. But, the experience—seeing the unbridled fascism of America up close and personal; the total disregard for human rights of our Native brothers and sisters as well as their white allies—did leave me with a serious bout of depression. To this day, anytime I watch old videos, that same feeling comes back.

I tell you all of this because most of you just see me, Jon, or Tina LIVE. Or us doing recorded interviews and footage. You don’t see the countless extra hours of work. You don’t see the soul-crushing conversations that happen off camera with protesters, or activists, who share their stories (in this case, Jon has talked to protesters who have lost loved ones in Gaza). But you don’t see or feel the emotional toll this all takes on us—the depression, the trauma, the soul-searching that, we as journalists, feel and absorb by covering these types of stories (often of misery). I can’t tell you how many times Jon and I have been on the road, wrapped a soul-sucking interview, and then simply been silent in the car ride after—not because we were mad at each other, but because we both were so depressed, so beaten down, by the story we just covered. Jon is a tough guy; he probably wouldn’t publicly say so, but just covering January 6th—where he nearly had his ribs broken as Trump' supporters crushed on top of him inside the corridor of the Capitol— understandably did a number on him mentally. Tina is also a tough gal; but I’ve also had conversations with her about how affected she has become covering countless right-wing hate and conspiracy rallies—from Neo-Nazis to Qanon.

I’ve even joked with both of them that I wish we could grow our funding just to have a full-time on call-call therapist travel with us…

I tell you all of this not to ask you to throw a pity party for us—from Standing Rock to Gaza protests, the story is not about us. I tell you this because I think it is important for you, as our viewers and supporters, to know the toll this kind of ON-THE-GROUND reporting takes on actual journalists (not the corporate ones playing ones on TV).

I tell you this because on top of all of this physical and emotional toll, I also have to deal with the anxiousness of not knowing if we will have enough funding to continue. As an independent outlet that takes no corporate funding, it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to fund ongoing ON-THE-GROUND protests as well as all of this protest coverage. We have to have enough funding to pay.

• Me

• Colin

• Jon

• Tina

• Hotels

• Flights

• Rent-a-car + insurance

• Food

• LiveU streaming ($500-$1,000 a month)

• Other fixed monthly costs

This is why I send you emails asking you to become a paying Status Coup member. This is why we send you emails asking you to donate….

So that we continue. Ideally, so that we can expand so 3-4 people are not doing the work that really requires 10-12 people. Most of you who read these emails ARE NOT yet paying supporters of Status Coup. I say that not to guilt you, or make you feel bad. Most of our viewers are working people living paycheck to paycheck. We understand if you don’t have $5-10 bucks a month to support this work. But if you do, I hope the above has better illustrated to you who we are, the effect this kind of work has on us as journalists, and convinces you that it’s worth it to support Status Coup—which you can do for as low as 16 cents a day.

Jordan