In a diary Wednesday night,
RedDan proposed a concept that is worthy of a lot of attention: a dKos subscription to fund a dKos White House press pass holder.
In January, kos announced (rather quietly, I thought) a dKos subscription program. Presumably, the funds it generated are already committed.
As kos wrote:
100% of your contributions will be reinvested directly back into building and maintaining this site.
(Disclaimer: my lifetime subscription took three minutes, it was my third ever Internet financial transaction, and I also posted my claim as the first dKos member to threaten to cancel a subscription.) That last part was a joke.
But what about keeping dKos free for all to read, and allowing only subscribers to post? Or allowing only subscribers to post diaries but making comments free for all? Or any other combo you can imagine?
First, I think dKos is one of the most important web sites on the planet. By design, accident and serendipity, this community has evolved as a powerful and influential medium that provides access to a wide range of intelligent voices.
dKos subscriptions are one of this community's best-kept secrets. The initial (and only, I believe) "sales pitch" promised subscribers a solitary privilege: the opportunity to "turn off" site ads, to make them invisible. I thought that would be the only privilege ever offered beyond the privilege to contribute.
kos promised as much:
What do subscribers get? To be honest, the benefits list is pretty short:
* The ability to turn off advertising
I don't want to fall into the trap of having two classes of readers -- those who pay and get the bells and whistles, and those who don't.
The value of dKos is the diversity of intelligent expression here and the organic, authentic ways our ideas and opinions evolve into GOTV strategies,, history-making investigations and weekly love fests.
Creating classes of dKos users would threaten that diversity and might retard our organic, authentic evolution as a community. That's a very real threat, and the best argument against any subscriber privilege program.
But RedDan's proposal made me think. The sooner this dKos community learns to express itself to the rest of the world as effectively as the right wing noise machine, the sooner America will begin to recover from our sordid experiment threatening the world, dismantling democracy and fabricating history.
Maybe a dKos journalist with a White House press pass will speed us on our way. It's worth considering.
A dKos White House Correspondent could substantially increase the value and effectiveness of this community. Whether or not "our" correspondent ever gets called on by a president or a flack, I'd read "our" correspondent before I'd read Dana Milbank. And I'd expect more truth.
How'd you like to "diary" a question series to "our" Dana Milbank, and expect to have an effect?
A dKos White House Correspondent would add substantial power to what we say here. How quickly would wheels turn if "our" White House Correspondent is posting exclusive front page interviews with Scott McClellan (or, more likely, front page stories about White House stonewalling) on Gannongate?
Imagine, if you will, an Armando, or a Meteor Blades with a White House Press Pass (not that either would or could, but they are effective thinkers and persuasive writers).
Third, a dKos White House Correspondent could substantially improve the American free press. "Gannongate" developed because our national "snooze media" was too busy preening and primping to notice what was going on under their very noses. "Gannon" wasn't shy or discreet in his pandering, he was there, in the White House, almost every day for more than two years.
Face it, folks. Our "free press" has been derelict in its duty for the better part of a generation, certainly since 1995. Can we afford to wait for them to find their soul again? Can we depend on Rupert Murdoch to light the way?
Anyone who's worked for a living knows a paycheck is a form of indentured servitude - slavery. Paychecks are good. We need them. Our natural tendency is to respond to the needs and desires of whomever issues the check. Journalists are no different.
Once, journalism claimed to be objective, not biased. Once, journalism claimed to serve its readers, not its employers. Once, journalism claimed to represent the citizens, not government.
Well, that was myth then, but it's not even myth any more. Most "journalism" offered the American public today is processed, packaged and presented for its entertainment value. A dKos White House correspondent might offer an alternative.
One last argument. The fact is, dKos diaries could benefit from some improvements. If our mission is truly to save the world from destruction, dKos comments ought improve as well, and soon. Certainly, many diaries are outstanding, awesome, even history-making. But countless others are less effective and several have been downright annoying (including some of mine).
A $40 annual subscription fee is modest. We possess the resources to accommodate those for whom it is not modest enough, and subscription privileges would reduce the number of counter-productive diaries and comments if they discouraged only those posters motivated more by convenience than conviction.
A $40 annual subscription fee from 30,000 subscribers (I know, I'm dreaming) would generate $1.2 million, more than enough to operate dKos at a profit and professionally staff a Washington news bureau that would report news.
The cost of such a strategy to this community might be substantial. As edrie passionately lectured RedDan last night, 11 cents a day is too much for some people. Can we afford to limit the full participation of anyone?
Care to comment?