They’re coming for independent media next
How you can make a difference today.
February 4, 2026
I started Raw Story 22 years ago because I believed independent journalism could change everything. Today, I’m writing to you because it’s the only thing that can save us.
In the past month, we watched the Trump Administration arrest four Black journalists. We watched it raid a Washington Post reporter’s home. We witnessed federal agents execute an ICU nurse in Minneapolis—Alex Pretti, a man whose only crime was trying to help someone—while corporate media called it a “confrontation.”
This isn’t journalism. It’s surrender.
The oligarch massacre of American media continues. Just today, Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post began laying off 300 journalists—or 38% of the newsroom. They closed the Sports section and foreign bureaus, for good. Jeff Bezos isn’t making business decisions. He’s smothering democracy.
But here’s what they miscalculated: we don’t need them anymore.
Raw America represents everything I learned building Raw Story from a basement operation into one of the most-read independent outlets in the country. We’re not just another news outlet. We’re your insurance policy against authoritarianism.
Raw America is the next generation of news. It’s news reporting, with a voice. With a soul. While corporate outlets equivocate, we call state murders what they are. While they chase access, we chase truth. We don’t even accept advertising: we answer to you.
This is the people-powered media revolution I dreamed of in 2004, and it’s happening right now. Raw America reaches millions of Americans hungry for truth over propaganda. Our videos cut through sanitized soundbites to show you what’s really happening. Our reporting breaks stories others won’t touch because we can’t be bought, bullied, or silenced.
But independence isn’t free.
Every corporate outlet has billionaire backing. They can lose money while pushing propaganda because their owners don’t need them to be profitable—they need them to be compliant. Independent outlets like Raw America survive month to month on reader support. No hedge fund. No oligarch safety net. Just us.
But that’s actually our superpower. Because when your survival depends on telling the truth, you get really good at it.
I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize the moment we’re in. I watched corporate media normalize the Iraq War, sanitize the Tea Party, and sanewash Trump three separate times. They learn nothing because their business model rewards access over accuracy.
This time feels different. The mask is off. The oligarchs aren’t even pretending anymore. They’re buying outlets specifically to silence inconvenient truths, and they’re coming for independent media next.
But they made one critical mistake: they trained an entire generation of Americans to stop trusting them.
Raw America exists because you refuse to accept corporate media’s version of reality. You want journalism that calls executions executions, that exposes regime lies, that refuses to normalize the unacceptable.
That’s exactly what we’re building. Every day. Today, our partner Really American hit 1,000,000 YouTube followers, and Raw America broke 50,000. We’ve only been at this for two months. Between our network, we’re now reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers each week.
Your paid subscription doesn’t just fund our operation—it funds the resistance to information authoritarianism. It ensures that when the next Alex Pretti is murdered by federal agents, someone will tell his real story. It guarantees that when oligarchs try to bury the next torture exposé, independent journalists will be there to dig it up.
We’ve been here before, facing different threats in different forms. We survived because people like you refused to look away when it mattered most.
This is that moment. Right now. Your support isn’t just appreciated—it’s essential.
Thank you for refusing to accept the unacceptable. Thank you for believing independent journalism matters.
The oligarchs bought major media outlets, and sadly are cutting them down to size. But they can’t buy us.
Not as long as you’re with us.
—John Byrne, Founder, Raw Story and Raw America