From the Editors

You are building AGR

You are helping to build an institution dedicated to making a real change in the world, toward social and environmental justice. You, our readers, are doing this by using this tool for information-sharing and organizing. You read Asheville Global Report, you think about what you read, you act on it, and you often give us your feedback and support. But in order to ensure the continued survival and growth of this institution, AGR needs for you to do more. We need you to help pay the bills.

You, the few thousand people who read this newspaper, and you, the few hundred who contribute much needed funds, are building one of the nation’s few solid independent media institutions. In a world of dumbed-down infotainment, AGR is a weekly source of serious international news. While the corporate-controlled media censor and distort the news to reflect a pro-government, pro-corporate bias, AGR brings you information and perspectives from people and groups organizing for social justice, for environmental protection, for workers’ rights, and for peace.

We, the editors and staff of AGR, serve as your facilitators, providing the information and perspectives we believe we all need to be active citizens, to make informed decisions, and to participate intelligently in building the movements that are changing the world for the better. Collectively, we contribute hundreds of hours per week to this effort, and we do it as volunteers. As a nonprofit organization with a tiny annual budget of $30,000, AGR cannot support salaried employees. The donation of our time is necessary for this institution to exist.

Your donation is necessary too.

This year, Asheville Global Report receives a national honor that shows the importance of what you are building. Project Censored is a Sonoma State University research group that annually compiles the top 25 most “censored” stories of the year, news that the mainstream media ignore. The group honors independent media sources that bring this information to the public. This year, three of the top 25 stories have been attributed to our efforts. Only four media sources received this many citations: we were joined at the top by In These Times, the London Guardian, and Mother Jones.

AGR is strong and growing, and it is vulnerable. As the political climate becomes more violent and oppressive, the voices for peace and justice grow more isolated. And without the deep pockets of the corporate media, our newspaper is dependent on the few foundations that award us grants, our small community of advertisers, and on you. Our largest income category is private donations from individuals, and most of these are small donations from our everyday readers. Every dollar counts. Your donation counts.

Twice a year, you hear from us on this topic. Our spring and fall fundraising drives bring in the bulk of the funds we need to publish this newspaper. This fall, we need your donation. The community of readers that supports this institution must come together to pay the bills, and build for the future. If you can afford to donate $100, your support is urgently needed. If you can come up with $35, your donation is important. If you can give $5, please send it in. AGR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; your donation is tax-deductible.

In times like these, we all must decide what sort of world we want to live in. Some of us now live an atomized existence as passive consumers of infotainment, uninformed and powerless to act. Let us choose instead to work together to inform and educate ourselves, to build the institutions necessary for communication, and ultimately, for action to change the world.