Dear Reader,
It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.
If you are looking for a media outlet that blames everything on the “far right” in Ireland, then you don’t have to go far to find one. If, by contrast, you are looking for a media outlet that looks beyond that cheap sloganeering, and tries to understand and report on the real concerns held by ordinary people – and a good few prominent people, albeit privately – then that is what we try to do here.
But we cannot do it without your support, and your subscription.
We do not take Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.
But there’s a bargain to be struck here: If you value our independence, then you must support it. If you want us to be answerable to you, then you must take a stake in our work.
What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.
That is what media is supposed to be, but too often in Ireland no longer is. We are trying to change that, and we need your help. I am, therefore, asking for it, and would deeply appreciate a subscription at the level you can afford.
With gratitude,
John
