Keep local news alive: Support the Philadelphia Independent Media Coalition

Look, it’s a scary time to be a journalist.

We live in an age when Americans overwhelmingly don’t trust mass media, when our president hands out “Fake News Awards,” when corporate players are buying up quirky, challenging news sites just to shut them down, when the industry is shrinking and jobs are disappearing.

So, as a niche, local media company, Technically Media is trying something new — for us, at least.

Last week, Generocity and sister site Technical.ly launched a membership offering to give readers a unique opportunity to support us. For $10 a month, you get early access to reporting, exclusive event invites and connections to our staff, sources and other members — and our bottom line gets a little stronger. It’s not a paywall, but a fiscal vote of confidence.

And we’ve already gotten some awesome responses, from longtime friends of the show to folks we’ve never spoken to before, but who love the stories we write about their community.

It’s all part of a larger movement to strengthen independent media in Philadelphia: With help from a Lenfest Institute for Journalism grant, Technically Media has teamed up with a handful of other niche media outlets to promote each other’s memberships.

We’re calling it the Philadelphia Independent Media Coalition. The partners, in addition to Generocity and Technical.ly, are:

• Hidden City Philadelphia
• Philadelphia Public School Notebook
• PhillyCAM
• WURD Radio

You know Hidden City for its uncovering of Philly’s forgotten physical spaces; the Notebook for its dedicated reporting on the state of Philly education; PhillyCAM for its media training and production of community-minded television shows (including “Around the Corner“); and WURD for its elevating of Black voices.

All of these outlets are produced independently of any major media corporation, and several of them are nonprofits. But we’re all small shops, and we all cover communities oft unseen in mainstream news.

Together, we make Philly better. Show us you agree.