Readers of CounterPunch don’t need to be reminded of the challenges facing media outlets critical of Trump’s America. This government hasn’t been coy about its efforts to suppress dissenting voices, and we all know why.
The cost of living is soaring while senseless wars are waged. The police and ICE have been militarized against the American people, using technologies first deployed against our “enemies” overseas. The man-made climate catastrophe has produced natural disasters on a scale increasingly difficult to contain. All of this occurs as a US-backed genocide wipes out entire family lines. These horrors are not only permitted but facilitated, as they serve, directly or indirectly, the channels through which wealth is transferred from the laboring masses to the powerful hoarders of capital. Whereas before the machinations of capital could be cloaked behind a shallow, so-called progressivism, the horrors today can’t be concealed. Not without a totally compliant media, at least.
CounterPunch has proudly stood steadfast against these rising tides of fascism, reporting on capital’s crimes for over thirty years. We’ve been able to do so because our funding model is completely independent of the corporations and billionaires who are gleefully complicit in the degradation of human life. We don’t serve the moneyed interests who will pay anything for a media apparatus that whitewashes their crimes. We serve you, the readers who won’t settle for wool being pulled over their eyes and who wish to see the names named and the truth told.
Maintaining an operation like CounterPunch is a costly endeavor. In addition to the challenges of reporting the unflattering truths about our empire, unexpected costs always arise. This past year alone, we’ve beefed up our servers and security systems to protect against a rise in bot attacks and AI scrapers.
Yet CounterPunch isn’t on the defensive. So many writers, including Jeffrey St. Clair and his brilliant Roaming Charges column, bring you riveting articles every week. With funds raised in previous drives, we’ve launched the CounterPunch reporting initiative, sending reporters around the globe to tell stories corporate media won’t touch. For example, “Zionist Expansion: A First-Hand Account of Israel’s Illegal Occupation of Southwestern Syria” features valuable on-the-ground reporting from the region by reporter Sam Kimball. The Investigative Fund has also received reports from the Amazon, where gold mining has rendered the forest toxic, and from the Darién Gap, a dangerous stretch between Colombia and Panama that provides the only landbridge between South and Central America. These stories are made possible by our readers’ donations.
We’ve also expanded our efforts to reach more readers with these stories. With growing interest in alternatives to the current regime, it’s more important than ever that those energized against the empire and seeking alternatives receive the full story. Our Instagram account has reached nearly 19,000 followers, and the content we share is viewed roughly 250k times per month. This is serious growth in a new media territory, and it has expanded our audience to demographics we haven’t reached before. It’s great news.
We’re now publishing roughly 4,000 articles each year from hundreds of authors, academics, artists, journalists, and activists from nearly every continent, as well as Indigenous voices and writers on the frontlines. These articles are available for free and draw nearly two million views to our website annually. This is accomplished without relying on ad sales from corporations that could threaten to withhold funding if we shed an unflattering light on their affairs, without using AI-generated content that so many publications have switched to, and without sacrificing the core of what makes the CounterPunch editorial project so crucial in an age of censorship and media repression.
All of this is only possible with the generous backing of our readers. There are several ways to donate to CounterPunch beyond our traditional one-time and monthly options. You can view all ways to donate at this link. Your support has been and continues to be crucial to our efforts to tell the facts and name the names since 1996.