 I was trained as a newspaper man and became a foreign correspondent based in London. Although the mainstream media was always an extension of established power, in those days there was space for independent journalists. Indeed, we are often welcome. Today, those spaces have long gone shut down as the media has become an echo of itself. But this isn't another tale of woe about the media. For on the net you can find some of the finest journalism, and none finer than at consortiumnews.com, which was started in the 1990s by the late and great Bob Parry, and is today edited by his outstanding successor Joe Laurier. Consortium is what newspapers used to be. It's up to the minute news and analysis are superb. It sees the world from the ground up, not from the top down. It exposes and decodes the unrelenting propaganda of power, and this includes the many stories the mainstream media neglects and willfully ignores, not least the persecution of Julian Assange. But consortium can't run on praise alone, and it needs your help urgently. Please support Joe Laurier's fundraiser and help keep real journalism alive. Thank you. Hi, I'm Chris Hedges, and Consortium News runs my column, which is originally published in Sheer Post. I'm a strong supporter of their work. They have done some of the most groundbreaking and consistent work on the persecution of Julian Assange, which is, I think, certainly for those of us who come out of the world of journalism. The most important case in terms of press freedom, they are not owned or bound by the strictures of corporate advertising, which is increasingly not true, even for left-wing sites. It's free, it's independent, it's courageous, and I can't think of many sites that I admire more than Consortium News and urge you strongly to support it. Hi, my name is Jill Stein. I'm so grateful to Consortium News for being a fearless, tireless watchdog to power in an age of unprecedented imperial might when most media outlets are drinking the Kool-Aid and degraded by corporate funding, groupthink, and a culture of careerists and lapdogs to power. Consortium News is one of a tiny handful of media organizations doing the job of real journalism, informing, empowering, and inspiring us to the difficult task of citizenship in a democracy on life support. In short, Consortium News is a lifeline to the democracy we need, and I urge you to join me in supporting it like our lives depend on it. Thank you so much. When my dad launched Consortium News back in 1995, his motivations were essentially twofold. One, he wanted to establish an outlet to publicize documents that were coming to light, which placed the history of the 1980s in a new, more troubling light. Secondly, he had grown distressed by the dishonesty and silliness that had pervaded American journalism by the 1990s. This trend, he believed, effectively prevented important stories from being told and betrayed the solemn duty of the press to inform the people. He created Consortium News as a fiercely independent home for serious journalism that challenged the conventional wisdom. Since his untimely passing in early 2018, Joe Laurier and his team have kept this vision alive. From the authoritative reporting on Russia Gate to the courageous work defending Julian Assange, Consortium News has maintained an independent and principled approach to journalism that is all too uncommon in our current media landscape and of which I'm sure my father would be proud. I urge you to support this essential media outlet which is needed now more than ever. Thank you.