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  • You've Enabled Community Funded Reporting!

    David_square
    David Cohn 1 post
    Sep 5, 2008

    Helllo Spot.Us Supporters!!!!

    About one month ago we formed a little group that funded Alexis Madrigal’s reporting on biofuel usage in California. It was the first ever example of “community funded reporting” organized by Spot.Us – I can’t thank you enough.

    We know it goes against the immediate gratification of the web – but I’m proud to finally announce that you can read the full investigation online.

    • On Spot.Us: http://blog.spot.us/2008/09/04/changing-locomotion/

    The full investigation has also been republished over the course of the week at Gas2.org, EcoLocalizer, and Celsias.com.

    The reporting also caught the eye of: BioFuel Digest, Huffington Post and countless others.

    • On BioFuel Daily: http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2008/09/04/three-part-series-on-california-ethanol-mandate-part-three-follows-1-billion-gallons-of-ethanol-from-iowa-to-the-golden-state/
    • On HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/ethanol-in-california-how_n_123827.html

    Together we’ve made journalism happen and have done a small part to keep our democracy strong by informing the public. For Spot.Us – this group has set a precedent that is already been followed.

    Spot.Us has also successfully funded a reporter who will fact-check political advertisements for 10 weeks preceding the local SF Election.

    This effort (and our fundraising for the ethanol story) caught the attention of the NY Times!!!

    • http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/weekinreview/24kershaw.html

    We are ONLY $20 shy of funding another environmental investigation – into California’s cement industry and how they can stay in business while trying to reduce their c02 output!!!!

    • details here: http://wiki.spot.us/cement

    As we get more success stories from spot.us – more reporters are creating pitches about important issues. Just this week we launched our 4th and final pre-beta pitch – looking into how the Bay Area will cope with the growing elderly population.

    • Details on that pitch here: http://wiki.spot.us/longevity

    Bottom line – the ethanol investigation was a history making event for spot.us. It would have been impossible without you joining us, believing in us and helping us move forward. Thank you!!!!!

    David Cohn
    Director Spot.us