Monday, 19 December 2011, 7:26

Salem-News.com Reality Check by Tim King

We’d rather not, in fact we refuse to, but whether we make it depends on support.

Bonnie and Tim King of Salem-News.com

(SALEM) – The support we need to continue this operation with an air of dignity and something beyond our own blind dedication, comes from our readers, advertisers and supporters. We have a PTSD documentary that needs to be produced; we have laid an incredible groundwork for future efforts, never ceasing in the publication of fresh news, however the owners of the nation’s most visited independent news group live like paupers and our basic needs are not being met.

It places large question marks on our life, on our existence, and I know I could provide a much better living for my own kids if I had not decided several years ago to give this operation absolutely every ounce of energy and dedication possible. We have chosen to blow off the powers that are ruining our beloved state, nation and world, and we suffer for it.

We could easily be a financially successful venture by now if we covered what all of the other news agencies cover. We are stubborn for the sake of humanity, what is your story? For ours the reality is simple. We have turned down people over their politics, we have turned down companies that wanted ‘pop up’ ads, we have refused from day one to accept ads from pharmaceutical groups. These groups want us to have no principles, and frankly a large number of them didn’t even understand why they were refused. That is the reality of this world, the deep pocketed firms that have money want us to play their game, they want us to be whores and prostitute our beliefs.

What ultimately happens to Salem-News.com depends on many things. One scenario that many people would like to see pass is our extinction. We break so many stories that other news agencies miss- until we provide coverage, that it is ridiculous, but we constantly gain new groups that want to silence us. The other scenario involves our receiving support and funding and raising our visibility and visitor count to the point that everything changes for everyone, everywhere. For seven years one Oregon family has led the way, publishing the work of a team of writers that has now grown to more than a hundred, in 22 countries and 19 U.S. states.

There are so many stories we want to cover; we seek to bring change and we center around many subjects that are of dire importance to the survival of this country and world. We have published over 21,000 articles, and we have never stopped working seven days a week to keep up. Our ranking online rivals or far exceeds that of so many other agencies; companies that employ dozens or even hundreds of employees. We have proven that sheer will, endless thousands of hours of dedication and amazing relationships with writers all over the world can make a news product that is necessary in a dire way. At the same time that running this nearly solo is growing weary, we are seeing our daily count exceed more than 30k unique visitors every 24 hours, which is empowering.

Tim and Bonnie King – a family unit. That is it, we have given every penny and every ounce of energy to get this far, please help us survive. I remain convinced that many people would help if the truly understood what we are doing. The answer for our financial success is obvious; if we were doing this for profit long ago we would have allowed advertisers that market products and industries that we do not believe in. American televisions are inundated with pharmaceutical advertising; it is grotesque and long-winded. It is time to redirect support to Salem-News.com. We fight for Veterans, Human Rights, we expose Genocide, we cover Sri Lanka, Israel and Palestine, Rwanda, Libya, Iran; and we bring our readers the clear stories often from people who are on the ground.

We cover nuclear power and weapons-related issues, our attention is on the big government polluters like Dow and Monsanto, and we are vigilant with regard to government corruption, police brutality and abuse. We care about rarely addressed tragic subjects like human slavery and trafficking, and we have broken major stories about the problems along the U.S. border with a particular emphasis on Eric Holder’s program that delivered deadly U.S. weapons into the hands of Mexico’s murderous drug cartels.

Among so many other things, Salem-News.com is an expatriate paradise, and many of our writers living around the world covering events were born and raised in the U.S.A. We cover offbeat topics that get little coverage in the mainstream, like big wave surfing, and we cover the plight of motorcycle clubs in America that almost never get fair or unbiased coverage.

Some would say our stories often have a religious theme or message and that is true. We show people the positive and negative aspects of religion and religious practice. We praise those who truly help the world and we openly criticize those who use religion as an excuse to murder and exploit others.

Our visitors are mostly in the United States, but our worldwide audience is growing at an amazing rate, and that is largely because we carry the work of writers in places like Rwanda and Sri Lanka, where media censorship prevents residents of these countries from seeing Websites that are critical of their governments.

Salem.News.com’s reality should not be that its owners live in poverty. We don’t have to do this, we are dedicating our lives to the existence of this news agency because we believe it must be done; however there is no way we will adequately be able to either persevere, or get our information out to enough people, unless some type of shift takes place and somebody with money can show generosity and bring something to us. We are taking a real beating, please help us, and know that we can use any manner of things, like if somebody has a home in the Salem area that we could use as a base of operations; we are in need of a transportation vehicle at this time, we need volunteers also to help with content. In the end it will end as it will, but I hope this reaches one or more parties that have extra resources and can spare something our way.

You can send a check to:

Salem-News.com

P.O. Box 5238

Salem, Oregon 97304

Or visit our PayPal link at the top.

We appreciate all forms of generosity, and we hope that someone sees the vision and can appreciate that while we don’t match the criteria of others who fit in the square pegs and round holes, we are doing something so important there are hardly words. Anyone considering making a serious contribution is welcome to write to me at tim@salem-news.com.