Last Wednesday night I did something I have avoided doing for eighteen years. I asked the people who watch this show to pay for it.
Our ad revenue is down more than ninety percent. Watch time is down seventy-two. The crew that was twenty people is two of us now, and we are still putting out the show five days a week. Nothing about the work changed. The money simply stopped.
So I built a page, wrote the most honest email I have ever sent, and hit send.
On that page, underneath the donation form, I put a second button. It said you could pray for us instead. No payment, no email required to count, nothing asked in return. I put it there because I thought a handful of people might use it, and because it felt wrong to build a page that only had one door.
What actually happened
Ninety-eight people prayed.
Sixteen of them stopped and wrote something down, which takes longer and costs more than clicking a button. I have read every one of them. Several of them more than once, at hours of the night I am not proud of.
Here are some, published with permission.
"Lord, we need people like Gary to expose the evil so that evildoers can be brought to justice. We know you are Judge of all the Earth."
— Caleb T. Pittman
"I pray that the truth will continue to be exposed by this and other independent outlets, and that it will prevail, in Jesus' name, Amen."
— Eric Anthony
"Never give up, Jesus never gave up on us..."
— Carlos V.
"Heavenly Father, please protect Gary, His wife, and family. In this trying time. I have enjoyed the Next News Network over these past ten years."
— Alfred
"Lord touch people's hearts for those who work so hard for liberty and truth."
— Kendra
And one that made me laugh out loud at two in the morning, which I needed more than the others:
"Fight, fight, fight! ...Don't let the ba*tards get you down!"
— MimiD
The part I did not expect
I built that button as a courtesy. I assumed the people who could not give money would use it and feel a little better about not giving.
That is not what happened. A number of people did both. And several of the people who prayed were plainly in worse shape than I am.
One woman wrote to tell me she is living on thirteen hundred dollars a month and paying for insurance she cannot use, and that she would keep praying. Another man is fighting leukemia while caring for a wife of forty-seven years with dementia who has been in intensive care since Labor Day. He sent two hundred dollars, covered our processing fees, and apologised for not sending more.
I am not going to pretend I know what to do with that except to say it out loud.
Where the fundraiser stands
As of tonight, 154 people have given $8,521. Thirty-two of them set up something monthly, which is the part that actually lets me plan instead of triage every morning.
That is not the finish line, but it is the difference between this being a bad month and this being the end.
The page is still up: nextnewsnetwork.com/give
The prayer button is still on it, and it still costs nothing.
One favour
Nine people wrote a prayer and never clicked the confirmation link in their email. Their words are sitting in our system and are not on the wall, which is a shame, because they are good ones.
If that is you, check your inbox, including your spam folder, and click the link. I would like people to be able to read what you wrote.
Our Take
I have spent eighteen years telling people that legacy media does not deserve their trust. What I did not properly understand until last week is how much of the alternative rests on nothing but goodwill.
There is no advertiser holding this together anymore. There is no platform looking out for it. What is holding it together is a few thousand people who decided it was worth keeping, and ninety-eight of them who could not send money and sent something else instead.
Thank you. I mean that in a way I am not equipped to write down properly.