Citizensjournal.us, the online publication for Ventura County’s REAL news, is supported solely by volunteers, donations and ads. We have occasionally paid for some articles with donations intended for that purpose. Most revenue so far has gone to software, services, equipment and promotion.
These donations to specific writers/reporters were not our idea. Like several things we have done, this was initiated by supporters and readers who saw a need and addressed it. So, we’re gonna try to formalize/expand it and see if it works.
Some of our volunteers, such as our Editor, Publisher and Webmaster will accept no money until all of the other staff who want it are compensated, which may be never- we don’t know. That’s up to you- our readers.
You can contribute to writers or donate to the general fund. Or take out an ad, which is tax deductible if done for business purposes. We chose not to incorporate for non-profit status for the same reasons that some churches and political activist organizations don’t- so that the government can’t regulate our free speech. You will notice that we’re more outspoken on “politically correct” issues than most news organizations- and we intend to keep it that way.
We’ll be phasing this in on a larger scale if our pilot program works. If you see a posting marked “Adopt-a-Reporter” program, that means that we have chosen that reporter/writer to be in the program and he/she has accepted. Money collected via the program will be used to compensate those reporters at an established pay rate, as a subcontractor, to keep things simple, since they are not our employees and do other things, too.
How do you support a writer? There will be notices on postings of program authors. Just follow the instructions if you wish to become their patron, which will involve using our donation mechanism and also sending us an email to [email protected] to instruct us on who you want compensated.
– George Miller. Publisher