[progressive movement] HELP Save Cursor and Media Transparency

Media Transparency tracks the money. Cursor tracks the media...

They're both run by the same thinly funded nonprofit and they're at risk of going down...

I've learned about this from Bill Berkowitz, who's a key writer for Media Transparency and for the larger good I'll divulge a trade secret: I watch Bill Berkowitz. I'll start there.

Few journalists are better or more dedicated at watching the slower, sub-surface movements that can emerge to shift the balance of power.

A few months ago, I made a popular post here, at the Daily Kos, about the new right-wing billionaire funded Freedom's Watch group, which reportedly has $250 million in financial pledges aimed at influencing the 2008 election.

I like to think I'm usually ahead of the curve and sometimes I actually am, but that story wasn't even remotely on my radar screen: I got it from Bill Berkowitz, who originally covered the story at Media Transparency and  who has a knack for covering such stories far in advance of their breakout into mainstream media.

The emergence of MoveOn.org has scared be bejeezus out of some on the US right and Bill Berkowitz, I realized in retrospect, was watching, patiently and closely, for the emergence of the right-wing answer to MoveOn. Bill's been scanning the horizon for the right-wing response, and he's written about Rod Martin and Vanguard.org but he also was very early to pick up on Freedom's Watch which, now, is widely recognized as a looming threat to Democratic Party hopes of winning back the presidency in 2008.

There are few who do the sort of work Bill Berkowitz does, and in my opinion it's crucial that effort remains financially viable...

So, I'm staging a fundraiser.  

Cursor and Media Transparency are run by the same nonprofit which, Bill tells me, is not doing very well...

Like many independent progressive outfits not mainlined to Washington elite backers, Cursor/Media Transparency has always been run on a shoestring and I have to deduce, from Bill's description of how donations to the nonprofit have dropped dramatically in the past 2 years, that the shoestring sustaining these institutions, which have served as invaluable information infrastructure for the emergent "new left", may be very close to breaking.

Remember Cursor, home of the unmatched Media Patrol ?

There's nothing like Cursor, and it isn't easy to put together the "Media Patrol" - I know because several years ago I applied for the position and made it close to the final cut but not close enough, so I deeply respect whoever did. Media Patrol is a fierce discipline, a sort of media panopticon or media Zen that, I can guarantee, many of the leading lights of the new progressive movement read weekly or daily. It's that good.

And, so is Bill Berkowitz. For example, Bill anticipated the current shakeout in the leadership of the religious right and knew that younger leaders would soon come to the fore. One of the 800 pound gorillas is "A Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren who, lately, has been touring Africa and engaging in pronounced gay-bashing. Bill Berkowitz, it turns out, was writing about Warren, as the next American evangelical leadership heavyweight, about a year and a half ago. Most things Berkowitz writes have prolonged relevance, as does  much of the writing at Media Transparency.

Over the last few years I've fronted for and participated in a number of Internet fundraisers on the Daily Kos and my sense is that none may have been worthier than this.

I'm writing this post under a tight deadline and can't say much more except this:

If you feel as strongly as I do that Media Transparency and Cursor must continue and thrive, here are a few things you can do:

1. Donate to Cursor/Media Transparency.

2. If you have a blog, put up a fundraiser ad. I haven't had time to make a little sidebar ad or donation widget, so I have linked the 2 pictures in this post to the Cursor/Media Transparency donation page.

If anyone wants to make a sidebar ad for this cause that would be extremely welcome.

Best wishes,
Bruce Wilson

•  In the end it's very simple....

  We must support the people who do the work we consider important or essential.

  by Troutfishing on Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 05:32:48 PM PDT

•  I will try

  and post this on a local forum.
  peace

  by imchange on Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 05:54:47 PM PDT

  •  Thanks.

    Best, BW

    by Troutfishing on Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 06:35:52 PM PDT

•  I don't know much about them

  but if you respect them, Troutfishing, I will trust your judgement and make a donation.  It won't be much, but I'm sure every little bit helps.

  I'll also put them on my link list to start reading them.

  I am an Edwards Democrat!

  by Scubaval on Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 07:38:29 PM PDT

  •  Thanks, and as background.....

    These were important sites in the 'early days', the dark post-9-11 days when most of us were filled with despair.

    Cursor and Media Transparency have been consistent and important parts of the progressive movement, though they've been barely funded.

    by Troutfishing on Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 07:47:43 PM PDT