o.k...i'll donate

.....still hoping you will have more women and minority reporters.
The cheque is in the mail.

Wow, a great response already

Thanks GWest, southdeltawalker and the many others who have already given to the Tyee Election Reporting Fund in the first hours of our drive. We've already topped $500 and the main issues so far are: Environment, Corruption, Voting Reform.

Many thanks,

David

Ummm... A Donation to the NDP? I think not.

David,
I have enjoyed the past two months as an unpaid guest of your worthy news/opinion service and I find it overall quite interesting. There are a few reasons why I will probably not be sending a cheque, so I will start with the basics.
I like you folks. I also like most of what I read, even if I don't agree with it, but the confusion on the purpose of The Tyee seems deliberatly created.

You are not a mainstream media replacement for the Vancouver Sun or Province. What you have created is a way for people who don't like the way things are, to complain, in the name of making things better. Unfortunately those same folks act as spokespeople for the same group (NDP) who find fault in anything that our government has done to keep the economy and the environment in better shape than when they grabbed the reins from the NDP.

Here is one option you might find to make this work.

Find some out of work reporters, or bloggers who are able to see what HAS been done right and promote a fresh look in journalism without all the polarity bias.

Let me know when you get these people on board and I will send you a cheque.

Just sent my contribution.

Just sent my contribution. Keep up the good work.

daveallen, have you read these Tyee reports?

Thanks for your frank comments, daveallen.

Regarding this, however:

"What you have created is a way for people who don't like the way things are, to complain, in the name of making things better."

I know of no other media outlet with a stronger focus on solutions-oriented reporting.

Example: Prize winning reporter Monte Paulsen's series on affordable housing (with Housing Minister Rich Coleman, NPA candidate Michael Geller and others well to the right of the NDP spotlighted along with others of various political stripes). Find it here:

http://thetyee.ca/Series/2009/02/10/HomeForAll/

Or try these solutions oriented series on:

Global warming http://thetyee.ca/News/2006/08/31/Solutions/

Teaching http://thetyee.ca/Life/2008/09/02/TeachInspiration/

Public Transit http://thetyee.ca/Series/2007/07/05/NoFares/

In any case, by all means hang on to that cheque until we impress you. I'm betting we will.

nicely done

looks like my column came a few days too early: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2009/04/01/ReImagineNews/

I'll have to do an update at some point and of course include this election fund as an example of exciting journalism finance experiments.

Allowing people to contribute directly to reporting on issues that affect us the public is truly empowering.

Please keep experimenting and innovating!

Made my contribution and looking forward to your reporting.

Lots to read.

Thanks for the quick response David. Sorry I have not caught everything (I guess I have been focusing on the guys like Raif Mayor when I should have been looking for less controversay :-)

I am sure what you say is true and the cheque is in the mail.

Now how do I apply to do some contributing?

What about the kids?

I'm heading over to PayPal to donate, but I wanted to comment publicly on priority issues.

What about public education & the relentless cuts each year that are gutting our public schools? What about BC having the worst child poverty rate in Canada? What about the ongoing disaster that is MCFD?

Investing in BC's children and youth - building resilience, giving kids the knowledge, skills, ethics and confidence to be successful and responsible citizens - this is the key to resolving most key societal problems: crime, gangs, homelessness, poverty, conflict, addiction. Everything else is band-aids.

A highly educated work force is the surest way to build a strong economy that can withstand the kind of shocks we're now experiencing, and one that avoids the foolish excesses that got us into this mess in the first place.

A highly-educated society is more vigilant in defending a strong democracy and keeping corruption in check.

A society that is educated, and that has both social and economic stability, is best positioned to understand, avoid and/or respond to mitigate environmental challenges.

Past generations of Canadians believed strongly in the importance of children as a societal priority - an investment that served us extraordinarily well, We would not so foolishly take it all for granted, and stand by as it is steadily eroded, if we stopped to think about the roots of all the things that give us Canadians an advantage over so many other countries.

The "Me" generation is now increasingly confronting the consequences of our disinterest in maintaining a sense of societal (as opposed to individual) responsibility for child rearing and child welfare. Every item on the proposed list of political priorities given above links directly back to this failure.

topics of concern

Hi,

I was excited by this, but then saw the list of approved topics of concern and was dismayed. Nothing here about the arts, about the increasing transformation of BC and its capital into a hinterland for Vancouver, about the boondoggle of the wine industry, about sustainable models for community development, medical services, or education, about alternative models for getting us out of the economic doldrums, about redistributing wealth back into the Interior, about supporting the forest industry, about growing the film industry, and especially its independence, and so on. The topics as written don't inspire me, although almost all of them touch on issues that do concern me deeply. Perhaps the whole thing could be opened up.

Clarification

Name, Cariboo, thanks very much for you comments and the chance to clarify.

Just to be clear, we don't want to be prescriptive in the list of reporting topics. The topics in the story are just suggestions. If there are other issues you think are important to report on, by all means write those in the space provided in Paypal or on the cheques. And, by all means, continue debating the priorities here.

Our apologies if our story didn't make that clear. We've modified it to help avoid any more confusion.

Thanks,

Geoff.

I'm in..

Sorry I guess I missed the link where I could tell you what my hot topic is - well actually I saw it but assumed I should pay first, then proceed to tell you.

Anyway, for me it's corruption that could be the biggest election story, BC Rail and Kinsella. That story if it pops could lead right to Campbell's door, which is why he's keeping silent.

I wonder how he sleeps at night.

Thanks Tyee, for continuing to swim upstream.

Hmm

Odd that a news organization that wants to "cover the elections" wouldn't have mentioned even once the gerrymandering recently completed by the Liberals. Surely even ONE story would have been apropos, especially since the gerrymandering was done in the so-called "NDP fortress" of Nanaimo, specifically to destroy that fortress?

Yet the only Tyee search results I get for "gerrymandering" is a 2004 article that slams Vander Zalm for doing it. I see no mention of how the Liberals got away with doing it without a single mention of their actions in ANY press in the province.

Much as I respect the Tyee for its continued attempts to be what a real press should be, that lapse doesn't inspire confidence.

driftwolf, good point

I think your note points to the fact that, much as we'd like, we can't be comprehensive given our lean budget, and so miss some important stories. Thanks for prodding us to do better.

Hmmm? Seattle PI Article

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/165902.asp?from=blog_last3

And From the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/business/media/08pay.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

"“We’re looking, of course, at ways to extract payments from the consumers of our news — micro-payments, subscriptions, memberships, licensing, even voluntary donations,” Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, said last week in a speech at Stanford University. “In the coming months, I fully expect that the N.Y.T. will begin laying down some bets based on our best forecasts of how the relationship between journalists and their audience will evolve.”"

Way to go, Tyee

I'm in! I've gone to your PayPal site and made a donation. We are now witnessing a plethora of independent media sprouting up all across Canada. What a remarkable and exciting time. Not a minute too late.

The mainstream monopoly media has really run its course, and they're bankrupt in so many ways. What's unfortunate is that it didn't have to be that way, and most monopolies are their own worst enemies. But I digress. It is refreshing for citizens to feel that they are part of a social voice, which is what democracy has always been about. Great work Mr. Beers.