Independent Journalism Is Probably the Key to Our Survival

If you appreciate quality local journalism – and you should if you're a good American – consider Ohio Capital Journal in your end-of-year giving plans. Whatever other dumb thing you're thinking about buying today, donating to Ohio Capital Journal would be a much smarter choice.

Here's Ohio Capital Journal's front page today:

And here's The Columbus Dispatch's:

I don't want to be too hard on the Dispatch, notwithstanding having to navigate around a foundation repair billboard and various other pop-up menaces to get to anything resembling a news article. I still know people there from my reporting days who do good work. But in terms of meeting the moment – reporting on the miasma of corruption and governmental dysfunction we're living in – Ohio Capital Journal punches far above its weight. And it does so as a nonprofit that's not beholden to a corporate overlord, which makes it especially satisfying to support.

Today, for example, it is featuring an article about an oversight group for Ohio's electric grid raising alarms about the potential for rolling blackouts if the techbros succeed in building all of the data centers they want to build here. It's the kind of story you're not going to find in other local media.

This is real journalism and probably what journalism has to be if it's going to survive. It's absolutely critical to our understanding of the world, our ability to be responsible citizens, and our prospects for charting a course out of this mess. It deserves your support.