We Said Election Journalism Matters. Clearly, Many of You Agree

Last Monday I shared with Tyee readers the view from our newsroom. That B.C.’s provincial election and the federal election to follow will test not only where citizens land on the issues but how campaigns are waged in this new era.

A perfect storm of news media collapse, digital echo chambers and rage-farming tactics by some politicians makes these elections, I argued, like none before in Canada.

Given all this, I said, The Tyee feels a great responsibility to carry out reporting on the ground in key ridings, listening closely to what issues — and messages — are energizing voters.

We also see the need to quickly and accurately fact-check claims made by candidates, and to treat what’s being proclaimed on internet back channels just as importantly as press conference utterances.

That’s not just how I see it based on my 34 years in B.C.-based political journalism. A sense of urgency and professional responsibility is keenly felt by the entire team at The Tyee, who have been meeting to measure the scope of the elections coverage challenge and plan our approach.

You can imagine, therefore, how gratified all of us at The Tyee are to see that in just the first week of our three-week fundraising campaign, our beloved readers have already rallied to meet our initial goal of $65,000. If you haven’t contributed yet, there is still time to help with any amount you wish.

In fact, the support has been so resoundingly quick that we are aiming our sights higher.

For example...

I spoke of creating a Tyee Rapid Response Unit to ferret out and fact-check election disinformation. Dollars we receive between now and June 17 will allow us to hire expert researchers for the elections season.

I spoke of “turning Tyee reporters loose” to cover parts of B.C. where the B.C. Conservatives are surging to find out what’s driving this potential political brush fire. Dollars we receive between now and June 17 will pay for travel and time spent among grassroots voters and to investigate the backgrounds and track records of candidates, many of them newly emerging.

I spoke of identifying the issues that matter most to British Columbians and where the parties stand. Dollars we receive between now and June 17 will enable Tyee journalists to provide the information voters need to make grounded decisions.

We’re thrilled and thankful that the Tyee community has allowed us to meet our $65,000 goal in just the first week of our three-week fundraising effort. Given that achievement, we dare to dream we can up our ambitions to a more aggressive target — to $120,000. To help us get there, go to our fundraising page and contribute an amount that works for you.

Since we hit our initial goal so swiftly, we’ve been given room to think bigger. Our goal for this fundraising drive was to raise enough to properly equip our team to do an excellent job on election reporting. Now, with even more resources and such a strong mandate from our readers, we’ll bring on additional journalism capacity specifically on election-related reporting, complementing our existing team.

The truth is, the traditional business model for journalism just isn’t working like it used to, and collectively, as a society, we don’t have nearly as many reporters on the ground as we need. Especially around elections, we all deserve skilled, paid journalists working in the public interest. And for The Tyee, raising money through our Tyee Builders program is how we’re making it happen.

So, what do you say — will you help us hit our new target of $120,000 by June 17 to fund even more public interest election coverage? Sign up today.