Agenda Doing Better!
Everywhere we go these days people ask us what the status of AGENDA is. In answer we shrug our collective shoulders declaring, "We still don't know. "Assessing AGENDA's health and its ability to function financially is a month to-month proposition for now. Our guiding principie is to stay clear of further significant debt. At the same time we are still struggling to keep AGENDA afloat.
Your response has been heartwarmingly supportive. Thank you to all of you who have bought subscriptions and given donations and to all those people who have swung a fundraising bucket or passed a jar for us. With your help we have raised a good deal of money in the past two months and we plan to continue our fundraising efforts until the paper is healthy or the well runs dry!
This month we are feeling quite optimistic about the future of the paper. In the past two months AGENDA has received around $3,000 in subscriptions and donations. The LatÃn American Solidarity Committee and AGENDA raised another $1,100 in a three-day bucket drive at the end of May. And Rackham Student Government awarded Friends of AGENDA (our student liaison organization) a $600 gram to launch an intense mail campaign for new subscribers in June.
AGENDA is still in deep debt to our printer. We are still in need of short-term economic aid from you, AGENDA'S readers. Many of you have responded generously, but we still need at least $5,000 more to get out of this hole. We're counting on those of you who have hesitated to give to reconsider.
Each 12-page AGENDA costs about $1,100 to print. It is very expensive to publish an alternative newspaper. Although we have not heard the official word on why the Ann Arbor Metro Times folded in May, we suspect it had something to do with finances. That paper had significant financial backing, yet it still went under. Knowing that, perhaps you can now comprehend how costly it is to publish a newspaper and what a miracle it is that AGENDA has survived for five years.
While advertising pays 70% of the bills, the other 30% must come from our readers. The long-term health of the paper does, and always will, depend on strong financial support from the progressive community. AGENDA needs your long-term committment to subscribe and take an interest in the health of the paper.
AGENDA is made for and by the people of the Ann Arbor area. The bulk of AGENDA'S news and feature articles are written by local people, voices that would otherwise go unheard. The people most involved in the issues do the writing or are the protagonists of our stories so AGENDA's readers hear what happens straight from the source. AGENDA is a bulletin board for community members who want to share their knowledge and vision with their community.
AGENDA is also a voice for opposition to many of the actions our government takes. When other media sources were cheering the Persian Gulf War AGENDA's articles systematically examined our country's hidden agenda. This willingness to question U.S. government policy, even when it is painful and unpopular, is AGENDA's idea of responsible journalism.
The editors of AGENDA choose stories and regular features based upon their importance to our readership regardless of the possible effect on advertising revenues. This is what makes AGENDA the only true alternative source of news and information in town. Our publishing philosophy, and subsequently our editorial policy, is not held hostage to a greater economic interest. We are beholden only to the public interest.
AGENDA's Calendar is the place where Ann Arborites find out what meetings, events, and protests are happening. Entertainment is also a big part of the Calendar because we know you like to have fun and Ann Arbor has plenty of cultural activities to brag about.
Grassroots organizations are given subsidized space in The Community Resource Directory (CRD). In the CRD their current news and events enjoy wide exposure. The CRD has been utilized by over 100 grassroots political and human service organizations since 1986.
The role AGENDA plays by systematically publishing grassroots news and perspectives on current issues needs to be compensated. At your next meeting ask your group what they can do to get involved in keeping AGENDA healthy. Also make sure that you and your compatriots have up-to-date subscriptions. It is not enough just to complain about what a horrible job the commercial press does. By contributing to AGENDA you are investing in the future of your community and its media.
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