Small World News

We’re fortunate to have some very good news to report! We have raised 1770.00 dollars since I posted that we were broke. That means we’ll be able to continue the project for the time being, but we are still seeking support in the form of monthly subscription payments, which are currently stalled at about $225/mo (that’s less than 10% of what we need to run the project each month).

We hope you will consider making an ongoing payment if you haven’t yet, and you value the work of Alive in Baghdad. We are lucky to have a colleague who has made a substantial loan to the project, which will keep us going at least through November. We are uncertain how long this arrangement will be tenable, and hope that the donation of $2200/mo by one
dedicated supporter will encourage those of you who have not yet taken a moment to support the work of Iraqi journalists, who risk their lives each week to bring you they type of detailed stories you can’t find anywhere else.

Last but not least, we have received a bit of media coverage of late! Please check out this great story by Dan Rubin of the Philly Inquirer, profiling Alive in Baghdad. Also, if you’re in the New York Area, Brian will be speaking on the Bryant Park Project between 7 and 8am on Friday October 26th.

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A friend sent me a link to this article in the Hollywood Reporter this morning. So apparently ABC thinks what we’re doing is viable and the future of at least some portion of news. Make no mistake, we started opening new foreign bureaus in Summer 2006 with the establishment of a weekly program produced in Iraq.

We’re happy to see that other media are following our lead, now we hope a savvy investor will recognize we’re doing it better than the old media, and cheaper. How? The answer to both is the same, we employ locals with local knowledge and relationships. ABC is still insisting on sending foreign nationals trained and salaried at ABC into the field. Hiring foreign nationals is expensive, and they don’t have the same local contacts and networks.

I hope this is good news for our work and that we’ll be able to locate individuals or organizations/investors to collaborate with at the Networked Journalism Summit next week, given this news and of course our own track record.

On the funding side, we’ve raised about $800 so far, which is approximately 1/3rd of our expenses to cover Baghdad staff and necessities. Please consider making a subscription payment if you haven’t yet, and you appreciate our work. Also remember Alive in Mexico needs your support as well!

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It has come to my attention from a number of people that this post has been misconstrued by some as being negative against Next New Networks. I’d like to clarify this. We have nothing but good feelings about Next News’ support for Small World News.

We don’t blame Next New for discontinuing the program. Next New Networks has been one of the primary clients for Small World News and we still have hope to work with them in the future. The intent of the previous post was simply to detail some of our travails in trying to locate a sustainable source of funding. I’ve been fairly stressed out lately by our financial situation and I believe some of the post may have come out a bit brash.

It is my hope that no one at Next New Networks has been upset by the post, and if they have, I hope they’ll accept my sincere apologies, as no feelings were intended to be hurt. In the internet world three months is a long time, and viewers tend to be fickle on the web. We’ll continue to look for sponsorships, advertising, and investment opportunities and look forward to a future where we might work with Next New again.

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We’d like to thank everyone who has donated money thus far, especially those of you who have decided to become ongoing supporters of Alive in Baghdad through subscription payments! We still need to raise $2400 to pay our bills for October, most of which are due by November 1st. At our current rate, we will almost make that!

Please think hard about the money you’re going to spend this month.  Don’t ask yourself how much you can give or donate to Alive in Baghdad. We are not here to be a charity. Please ask yourself what you would pay for on-the-ground news at the grassroots level, of what civilian life is like in Iraq. Can you save $5, $10, or $25 this month and spend it, not only to receive solid information from Iraq, but to support our Iraqi staff who have each been hit hard by the conflict and are desperate for work.

We want everyone to be able to see what is happening in Iraq, whether they can pay or not. However, this work is difficult, dangerous, and not free. If you want to see what is happening on the ground in Iraq, and not just read about it, spend some money to support that work. If you think we are doing a good job depicting life in Iraq, let our staff in Baghdad know by helping to pay their salaries.

If you have comments, criticisms, or stories you’d like to see, please let us know! We welcome the input of our viewers and hope to continue producing a show that is an interesting and enlightening look at daily life in Baghdad.

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