FAQ What is the Real News Network?
The Real News Network is a daily video news network focused on providing independent and uncompromising journalism. Our staff, in collaboration with courageous journalists around the globe, investigate report and debate the critical issues of our times.
How is the Network funded?
We are viewer supported and do not accept advertising, government or corporate funding. In the early stages of our development we are also accepting foundation grants, in an effort to solidify the major infrastructure and staffing necessary to operate. The successful fulfillment of our 5-yr plan will see a move across to sustaining donor funding and a percentage of income from e-commerce strategies now underway.
Why don't you accept government or corporate monies?
Freedom from traditional funding structures allows journalists and senior editors to concentrate on facts. We don't rely on wire services or official press releases that attempt to set the news agenda. We also will not accept monies from organizations or government structures that try to control the way information is disseminated.
How is your site different from other news sites?
What makes The Real News different is our funding model. It means we can think and act independently and courageously.
We believe real news should give voice to important stories that address the rights of working people, women, children, immigrants and indigenous peoples. The health of our planet is also a major concern for citizens. The Real News will give important stories the attention and sense of urgency they deserve.
How is The Real News Network accountable to the members?
Without financial members, The Real News will fall. Its funding model relies on the support of thousands of people around the globe. Every story is open for comments and questions in our forums. We offer multiple avenues for feedback.
We have a board of directors and a journalist advisory committee comprised of experienced independent journalists. Our financial records are audited every fiscal year. Our newly designed business plan will be available on the website.
Who runs The Network?
The Real News Board meets quarterly to approve spending and any major infrastructure concerns. More information about the Board is available below. While in development The Real News consulted with an extensive Journalist Advisory Committee.
Daily operations are overseen by a Management Committee. Paul Jay is the CEO and Senior Editor of The Real News Network.
Do you have a board of directors?
We have a board of directors based in Canada, India, Bangladesh and the United States. You can access our list of Board members here.
What are your privacy policies?
The Real News recognizes the privacy of your personal information is important.
We also comply with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Information Act (PIPEDA). You can access our full privacy notice from The Real News Website here.
What is the deal with McClatchy?
McClatchy Newspapers is the second largest newspaper chain in the United States. While they have established a strong print chain, their website had yet to fully integrate video content. The Real News met with McClatchy DC and agreed to provide video news content for the McClatchy website in return for office space within their Washington DC bureau.
There are no financial ties with McClatchy and they have no editorial control over the production of our news.
Why do you have donation messages on every story?
The Real News posts content on multiple web platforms every day. While our home-site returns approximately 15,000 views per day, the total views are nearly triple that number. As a service that relies on donors to operate, we must message our non-profit, membership message as much as possible. We are still very early in our development and cannot afford to lose this message.
While we understand that viewers coming to the home-site may well have donated, the technical programming involved in removing donor messages from the video is expensive. We hope in time to offer such a service to our members.
Why don't you cover 9/11/New World Order stories?
The Real News is committed to the delivery of daily news and analysis. While we do plan to do investigative news pieces, they are very expensive and currently not in our budget. We make decisions every day about what stories need to be told - what the priorities should be.
While still in development, our editorial focus will be lead by major decisions and debate on the economy, foreign policy and the climate change crisis. Our video formats will include news stories, analytical interviews and debate. We do not have the resources yet to assign a whole team to an investigative long-form piece.
Do you accept freelance stories/documentaries and/or can you cover (topic)?
Yes we are happy to receive story ideas; we cannot act on all of them for the reasons stated above. We need to decide what the priorities are and what resources we can devote. We acknowledge that there are many important issues and events worth covering around the world. With additional viewer support we can expand our resources to adequately cover these issues.
We do have a facility for people to upload their stories to us for consideration on the Best of the Web section. If you record a citizen journalism piece, upload it to YouTube and follow the links on our website to upload your piece. It will be reviewed by our editorial team and published if approved. We regret we cannot pay for submissions of this kind.
At present, documentary projects will be considered on a case by case basis. We need to solidify the news department before expanding into other areas of programming.
I'm having problems with username/password?
If you have forgotten your username, try the first section of your email address before contacting The Real News, e.g.: "contact" would be the username for contact@therealnews.com. If you still experience trouble, enter your full email address and ask for a password reminder or contact us at contact@therealnews.com to ask for help.
I'm having trouble viewing your site?
Web browsers like Firefox or Safari cache passwords, urls and other web information regularly. If a new version of a browser comes out, often it will remember old information and show problems on your site. The best thing to do is regularly clear your cache.
What can I do to spread the word?
There are a variety of ways to expand our membership. Email friends, add comments to the site, engage in on-line discussion boards, and distribute our flyer. You can print our flyer from our website and distribute to places you believe will help spread the word. Host a house party; hold a screening of one of our premiums. We are currently developing a new "members only" site we hope to launch very shortly. This site will have a variety of toolkits and resources to "Make Real News" a truly interactive experience.
How can I volunteer/intern at The Real News?
Volunteers are vital to the organization. If you could forward a cover letter that outlines your reasons for volunteering, the type of commitment you'd like to make, and attach your resume, one of our communications teams will get in touch with you. Simply send your email to volunteer@therealnews.com.
We can also add you to our volunteer email list, which keeps our volunteers informed of Real News events and initiatives.
Donation Questions Do you operate as a charity?
In the U.S., Independent World Television, Inc. is registered as a charity under federal charter 501(c)(3). In Canada, the Independent World Television Foundation is a registered charitable foundation. All donations in the US and Canada are tax deductible. One-time donors receive a tax receipt upon donation (attached to confirmation email) and monthly donors receive a donation at the beginning of the following year.
Why should I donate?
We are viewer supported and do not accept advertising, government or corporate funding. Our goal is to reach millions of viewers around the world. We are the only news organization of this kind worldwide, producing totally independent daily video news and critical analysis.
If you fundamentally believe in an independent media and you agree with us, that people need to see uncompromising, in-depth journalism, then consider making a contribution of $10 per month.
How many members are donating monthly? (Need to get REAL numbers on this...or not include it.)
In the last six months we have registered close to one thousand new donors contributing on a monthly basis; and close to one thousand donors have made a one time contribution.
Since 2005, 3500 people have contributed at least one-time to the network's development and 2000 people have become monthly subscribers.
How much do I have to donate?
We accept and appreciate all donations. We recommend a monthly donation which can start as low as $5 or $10 per month. As our way of saying thank-you, we also send out member premiums for donations over $75 and above $10 per month.
While you can make a contribution as low as $1 or $2 per month, be aware that much of this donation will be lost to banking fees. If you would prefer to donate a smaller amount via check, please see the details below:
In Canada make cheques payable to:
Independent World Television Foundation
P.O. Box 68512
360A Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3C9
In the U.S.A make cheques payable to:
IWT - The Real News Network
143 West 4th Street #2F
New York, NY 10012-1057
USA
How do I get one of the member premiums?
You can receive any one of our premium gifts if you make a one time donation of $75 or a monthly donation of $10. You can receive the t-shirt if you make a one time donation of $60 or a monthly donation of $5.
How do I donate/upgrade to monthly?
You can make a donation right now on our website. Simply click on the donate button on the top right hand side of the website to get started. You will need a credit card to create the account. If you have an existing Paypal account, you can activate a donation that connects with this as well.
If you would rather call us to make a donation, we have a toll free number in North America: 1 866 396 4231. If you would like to write a check, the information is listed two answers above this one.
If you would like to upgrade your donation, we can make those changes now too. Contact us at donations@therealnews.com with your request. This also applies to renewing credit card details. If you would prefer to make these changes over the phone, call 1 866 396 4231. These changes are only possible with staff for security reasons.
How is my money used?
Donation funding is our major source of revenue. It has fuelled the establishment of a full-fledged studio and post-production facility in Toronto. It also finances the development of our daily video news stories, salaries for journalists, researchers, equipment and administration. 100% of your donation goes into our programming for The Real News and is tax-deductible.
Donations moving forward will be directed to the full integration of production in Washington DC. Operating out of the McClatchy Newspaper office, guests from DC and visiting experts/analysts/journalists will be brought to McClatchy for interview. Donations will also be directed to new areas of funding that will see improvements in live web-casting, better broadband connection and such. We will also be upgrading our daily output to include video to TiVo, LinkTV, and FreeSpeech TV etc.
Some of the increased donation funding will also be directed to greater marketing outreach. The further and deeper we can extend our brand, the better chance we have of creating a truly viewer-funded model that does not overburden current donors.
Are there any large foundations that support TRNN?
Yes, foundations and large dollar donors enabled us to develop our first Business Plan. The business plan has always stated that early in our development we would accept foundation and large donor funding until the sustaining donor base can sustain production and news development. We estimate that we can move to an entirely sustaining donor model combined with earned revenue from e-commerce initiatives, within 5 years.
How can you call yourselves independent if you take money from foundations?
Our Business Plan has always included the need for foundation and large donor funding during the development phase of The Real News Network. Without this seed-funding we simply would not be able to reach millions of people around the world. Funds have always been given with "no strings attached." However we do honor large donor requests such as dedication gifts. For e.g. If a large donor requests we only use their donation for development of "Environmental Stories" we will respect their wishes, as long as they are not trying to influence how such stories are covered. Over the next 4 years, we expect to be a fully sustainable viewer-funded model. Larger donors are our spring-board to reaching that goal.
How much does it cost to operate The Network from month to month?
Internet news media is a costly endeavor. Our operating costs are in excess of $200,000 per month. We have always maintained The Real News should be fully accessible to everyone on the internet. (I don't know how accurate this amount is, or how you want to list it)
What happens if the network does not reach its targets? (Not sure how you want to frame this or if it's necessary)
We are hopeful we will come close to our year-end targets - we are almost there! This is a great testimony to our vision, as it is difficult times for all. We have not been able to expand staffing in the newsroom, which of course, limits how much coverage we can put out. We may also need to further reduce staffing levels in the short term in order to remain viable. While we have a plan to start a debate show, resources are limited at this time. We would also like to expand our coverage to more parts of the world. The next six months will be crucial and we simply need more donor support.
In addition, your donation encourages larger foundations to invest in our vision. Your donation proves to them a viewer-funded model works. So it's vital to get our monthly donor base up if we are to continue.
This is part of the reason we are reaching out to existing donors today: We know you share in our vision. We're hoping you can help us build momentum in a variety of small but frequent actions (YouTube hits, discussion boards, social media, spread the word). Without continuing viewer support we simply cannot cover all the issues we feel are critical to viewers.
How can you ask people to donate with the current state of economic uncertainty?
We believe The Real News Network is an historic bridge that will arm citizens around the world with the knowledge they need to tackle the most pressing problems of our time, including the economy. By providing free internet broadcasts on timely issues, we hope to empower and inspire people to seize opportunities that will mobilize change within their own communities.
We know that the economic crisis is hitting people hard. It's hitting us hard too. People write to us often suspending their accounts due to lack of funds. We know it's a challenge; however the type of information we're providing in our news broadcasts is critical too. A news outlet has to be courageous enough to provide "real news" to its viewers. The Real News is critical - as critical to understanding the economy as it is to understanding foreign policy and world events. Without Real News, people do not have the tools - the information - to make sense of their world and make decisions in their own interests. We need a news outlet that can push forward to cover issues we face today with uncompromising courage and integrity. The Real News is a crucial tool for finding real solutions.
Can I donate at a later date?
Yes of course, you can donate any time from our website
Is my contribution tax deductible?
Yes
Can I get a tax receipt?
U.S. and Canadian donors will receive a tax receipt. In other countries, The Real News is not yet able to issue tax receipts.
Can I send a check?
Yes!
In Canada make cheques payable to:
Independent World Television Foundation
P.O. Box 68512
360A Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3C9
In the U.S.A make cheques payable to:
IWT - The Real News Network
143 West 4th Street #2F
New York, NY 10012-1057
USA
Questions about "Five Friend" emails I feel asking my friends to donate is an imposition?
We understand with the current economic climate, asking for money is a challenge.
While we're not asking you to badger your friends, we hope the email you send will encourage others to check out our site and expand our viewer support.
What if my friends don't respond?
Although your friends may not respond initially, we hope in time they will check out the site and see its value. Right now we appreciate you taking the time to spread the word.
What if my friends do respond, then what?
Once we send you the "5 friends" introductory email, if they respond positively, your friends will be directed to the donation page on our website.
Once they complete their donation, they will be asked who referred them to the site. At that time they are prompted to fill in your name. If all 5 friends donate, we'll send you a complimentary t-shirts. It's our small way of saying: "thanks". We are continually looking for ways to improve our donor recognition. If you have time, please participate in our membership survey! (Is this available online?)
Am I only limited to 5 friends?
Absolutely not! Feel free to email as many people as you'd like!
|
