Hard news improves quality of life.
But it’s called “hard” for a reason.
It’s not cheap to produce.
And the implications of truth are always tough.
Over the next two months, readers will notice a lot of messaging at Voice of OC around the national NewsMatch fundraising campaign aimed at alerting readers to the importance of funding local nonprofit news.
When it comes to public policy – especially at the local level – residents need realtime information about key quality of life decisions made by elected officials and government agencies.
Before decisions on things like elections, the budget and land use are made.
It’s the key difference between living in a free society and an autocratic state.
There’s a reason why so many elected officials and government agencies wait until the last minute to put important discussions on public meeting agendas, why the state’s open meeting law requires a 72-hour public notice before officials can take action.
Residents armed with information are hard to fool.
And whenever they get information in real-time, it changes results for the better.
Free, independent media is a key part of that civic ecosystem.
This is after all, a nation founded by pamphleteers.
Small publications like Thomas Paine’s 47-page, pro-independence pamphlet, Common Sense or the series of 85 articles published in New York newspapers between 1787 and 1788, later republished as the Federalist Papers, fueled the notion of what it means to be an American – well before the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
Today, every community in America is faced with a real crisis in news – especially local news.
The way news organizations traditionally financed their operations through advertising and business sponsorships has collapsed in part due to the internet.
The nonprofit news movement arose this past decade as a response to this crisis across America – with more than 400 nonprofit newsrooms operating today, in large part through the leadership of philanthropic organizations.
Yet foundations can’t float the nation’s newsrooms and they’ve made that clear.
The challenge for nonprofit newsrooms is to create a connection with their communities – earning their trust and ultimately donations through local coverage.
The Voice of OC newsroom prides itself on daily accountability news coverage.
It’s not easy to produce or find anywhere else.
It’s not left or right, Blue or Red.
It’s sourced, fact-based news that doesn’t just re-write government press releases.
It asks hard questions in real time of people that push Red or Green buttons and holds them accountable.
All in real time.
You don’t have to look any further than this year’s Election Guide, which our amazing reporters and editors rolled out earlier than ever this year, right after the Labor Day holiday.
[Read: Orange County Voter Guide: November 2024 General Election]
It’s choc full of hard-to-find information like campaign finance rundowns of key races – tough homework.
This past month, readers also got to see the culmination of a decade of coverage of one of Orange County’s most corrupt politicians, Supervisor Andrew Do – who pleaded guilty to bribery at the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana last week.
[Read: Former OC Supervisor Andrew Do Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme]
Long before the FBI swooped in, Do nicknamed our newsroom, the Noise of OC, after being irked by all our public record requests and accountability coverage.
[Read: Top OC Official Complains About Public Records Requests for Secretly-Approved Covid Contracts]
Consider Anaheim, which today touts itself as the most transparent city in OC – a key byproduct of a decade of aggressive coverage on those local streets, backed up by stunning FBI affidavits a few years back, coverage that also helped residents stop two lopsided public stadium deals.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Cans Angel Stadium Deal After FBI Corruption Probe Into City Hall]
The newsroom’s accountability lens doesn’t just focus on governmental hallways.
More and more, readers know to count on the newsroom’s wildfire and disaster coverage for the best mapping and reporting of key decisions in real time.
Our newsroom reporters pride themselves on being there for residents, whether it’s getting help to Tustin neighbors impacted by the Hangar Fire, helping Irvine locals stand up to an asphalt plant needing relocation or getting residents key data to understand the notion of green power at the emerging OC Power Authority.
This year, we even added a vibrant civic calendar alerting residents to key meetings, an innovation that eventually grew to fuel a weekend page – full of local photo essays, pet adoption profiles and free things to do from local public libraries and parks.
We’ve also learned a lot as a news organization over the past 15 years of operating on a pay-as-you-go basis, without a cent in debt.
We keep costs down.
There’s no big building or large management structure and we lean into digital. We steer resources to support our journalists with fair pay, training, education and mentorship along with strong legal representation.
In addition, we’ve concentrated on key partnerships with colleges like Chapman University, Cal State Fullerton and local community colleges to also train students, our next generation of watchdogs, on the essence of accountability journalism.
All those efforts create real media leaders, active in our industry as a voice for grassroots-focused newsrooms at state and national groups like the California News Publishers Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Institute for Nonprofit News as well as locally at the OC and LA Press Clubs.
We have also learned to not be shy about telling our story – letting the readers know through effective, on-brand marketing about how their contributions can effectively fuel a modern newsroom without commercial pop-ups or paywalls.
Here in Orange County, readers have taken up that challenge with vigor, supporting the journalism they are seeing every day from Voice of OC reporters.
Today, half the newsroom budget is coming from small contributions from readers.
That is the future.
We’ve all created a movement, not just a business.
Like so many nonprofits, a small portion of the audience is stepping up and chipping in.
Over these next two months during the annual NewsMatch online fundraiser, we’d like to ask every reader that gets value from our daily dispatches to consider a contribution.
It doesn’t take a lot.
If every Voice of OC reader chipped in just a few dollars each month, we’d be the biggest local newsroom in America.
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You obviously care about local news and value good journalism here in Orange County. With your support, we can bring you more stories like these.
