Dear Raw Readers: Prefer mail? Send payable to: Raw Story Media, PO Box 21050, Washington, DC 20009

Late next month we'll enter beta testing for the revamped Raw Story.

Today, we're letting you in on the first phase of our major upgrades. I hope you'll take a few moments to see what we're up to and consider supporting our work.

Today, I am pleased and proud to announce the launch of Raw Replay – a new video blog we created in response to your requests and with your support. Based on your feedback, we created Raw Replay to make it easier to find the latest video clips in one place… Stop by Raw Replay and you'll never miss the most up-to-date informative, funny and breaking news video content.

And that's not all we've added. You may have noticed new wire services on the site. We’ve added the Associated Press and Reuters – a milestone for the alternative press. When combined with our cutting-edge investigative reporting, these wires will keep you informed of the latest news around the world.

On the technical side of Raw Story, we're heading into beta testing. We'll be turning to some of you to take a look and tell us what you think and to let us know of any problems in the next two months. Our readers have always been an important part of making Raw Story work and as we revamp the site your help is more important than ever.

Our team of Raw Story Investigates reporters have pumped out more than fifty hard-hitting investigative pieces since our last investigative fund drive a year ago. Our work has exposed the heated behind-the-scenes planning on Iran, faulty intelligence in Syria, a secret prison in post-Soviet Poland, troubling anthrax vaccine research and the plight of gay safehouses in Iraq.

Your support also made it possible for us to revamp and upgrade our RSS, giving you expanded choices: full news coverage or just our exclusives.

I am turning to you for help in making it possible for us to continue to produce top-notch investigative news and get us over our final programming hurdle. Now that Raw Replay and the wire services have been added, our next project will speed page loading by 400 percent and will enable us to deliver more news to you in less time.

Advertising doesn't pay all the bills. We receive 1/25 of what the New York Times is paid per ad view and 1/10 of that enjoyed by most mainstream sites because we're not big enough to sign a direct ad provider. We could slash staff and cut investigative reporting -- but we believe readers are an important part of the reporting process.

If you’re a regular reader of Raw and are ready to help us continue our groundbreaking investigative reporting and improve your experience with the site, please donate whatever you can afford. We have set a goal of 1,000 contributors. (All gifts of $50.00 or more will receive a one-year subscription to our ad-free service.)

Why do we need your help? The answer is simple. We all know the mainstream media will not help cutting-edge journalism. In just the last few weeks, we’ve seen Raw Story Managing Editor Larisa Alexandrovna’s 2005 scoop on Valerie Plame’s Iran work confirmed by Plame’s autobiography and CBS News.

Neither Raw Story nor Larisa received any credit for this work – not a single mention.

While we at Raw Story – the only news organization in the world to identify the exact location of one of the CIA’s black sites – struggle to cover travel and investigative reporting by Larisa, CBS pays its lead anchor almost $15,000,000. At Raw, we're here to bring you news, not create media superstars.

With your help we can continue to follow leads that have helped put Raw Story at the top of web-based alternative media. Your support will help make make Larisa’s trips possible. For me, the biggest frustration is knowing the leads we have that simply can’t be followed up because, due to the recent policing by the agency after the disclosure of the NSA wiretapping program, CIA and other intelligence officials no longer want to talk on the phone.

Just imagine what kind of stories we’d have if Larisa could actually travel to the nation’s capital? With your help, I’m hoping to get Larisa to DC on a regular basis.

To put your contributions in perspective:

• $30.00 will cover a day’s cab expenses for Larisa in Washington.
• $53.00 will cover a disposable cell phone for plus minutes.
• $130 will cover a day’s hotel stay for Larisa in DC.
• $300 will cover a plane ticket to fly Larisa to DC.
• $400-500 will cover a major freelance investigative article such as Julie Weisberg's investigation into the anthrax vaccine.
• $900 will cover the cost of Larisa’s entire DC trip.
• $10,000 will pay for the final portion of our technical upgrades.

If you you'd like to sponsor Larisa personally, or our investigative team, write me at john(at)rawstory.com. I'd love to cut back the number of ads -- but for now, these ads are the only way we can afford a team of unafraid, hard-hitting reporters and video editors.

Heard of private security firm Blackwater?

If you were reading Raw Story, you’d have read about Blackwater’s plans for an 824-acre base. Raw Story’s Miriam Raftery took you to San Diego to see where an erstwhile chicken ranch could play host to fifteen firing ranges and an emergency vehicle operator’s course the length of ten football fields.

“The private security contractor has seen its federal contract revenues swell since Sept. 11,” Raftery wrote. “Six years ago, the firm raked in $250,000; today a single Iraq contract is valued at $300 million. Much of its work takes place in Iraq; the company was at one time responsible for the security of interim Iraq consul Paul Bremer. Blackwater now aims to expand operations by establishing several new training camps in addition to its headquarters in North Carolina.”

Was this written in September, when Iraq finally nixed the firm’s license to operate, citing myriad civilian deaths? No. Raw Story ran the article last April, while the rest of the media was looking the other way. Last week, the story won an “Excellence in Journalism” award from the San Diego Press Club.

Your support has made it possible for us to grow and institutionalize investigative reporting. We want to do more. 1,000 donors will cover the last stretch of programming overhaul and provide a travel budget for our reporters to get those stories you’ve been waiting for. Donate now to make those stories a reality.

If you want to become a major investigative sponsor and are interested in having your name or organization appear with our articles, please write me at john(at)rawstory.com.

We’d also like to get our Congressional and campaign reporters Nick Juliano and Jason Rhyne to campaign events – but unlike mainstream media organizations that have unlimited expense accounts, our travel budget is all but zilch. Right now, we probably can’t send them to anyplace but the national conventions, when the nominations are already in the can.

Investigative news is the core of Raw Story. It is also extraordinarily expensive. While other news organizations have slashed their investigative budgets, Raw Story continues to expand.

Last month, we wrote 382 news stories with a team of just three full time reporters. If we count our research director and our two video editors, that comes out to an average of 64 stories per person per month.

Just one year remains until the one of the most important presidential elections of our time. I'm hoping you can help us continue to provide the best alternative reporting on the web and finalize our technical upgrade.

Let me tell you what we've done in the last few months with your help, and what the upgrade will bring you.

• Myriad exciting features we can’t yet reveal – but will include the ability of readers to submit their own stories and have more interactivity with the site and its content.
• Raw Story news in video: A podcastable recap of the most popular stories from the week.
• Faster page loads.
• Easier navigation through the site
• User accounts: “I’m a fan of this user,” personal profile pages.
• Merging of Raw Replay and Raw Story.
• Registration based, threaded, ratable commenting.
• Greatly expanded content with more categories.
• Customized RSS feeds.
• Email and SMS alerts
• Greatly improved archives
• New enhancements to the ad-free site
• More stories (ability to close and open sections to see more stories on the front page).
• Search functionality allowing readers to find stories that have fallen off the page.
• A feature showing “Most read” emailed, viewed videos and stories.
• Polls.

• Stages I and II of programming revamp:
  • Features outline.
  • Backend user account creation, story display.
• Raw Replay (CSS, programming)
• 18 investigative articles.
• Faster Ad server.
• New Video server.
• New Video producer.
• New Video writer.
• New Video player.
• AP.
• Reuters.
• CSS improvements.
• More RAM for primary server.

NEWS ARTICLES YOU HELPED US WRITE:

Raw Story Managing Editor Larisa Alexandrovna:

• US, Israel refuse to cooperate with UN investigation into Syria strike. The United Nations nuclear watchdog is set to report that the Israeli bombing of Syria Sept. 6 did not hit a nuclear facility.
• US intelligence does not show Syrian nuclear weapons program, officials say. The US intelligence community has no information on a Syrian nuclear site being hit, despite Administration leaks to mainstream newspapers.
• All the president's PR men: Raw Story investigation reveals revolving door on Iraq PR. Political operatives who promoted Bush’s Iraq war agenda are now spreading a “good news” agenda from private firms.
• Senate passes intelligence bill after Democrats back down on presidential briefings, CIA jails. Democrats garner enough votes to pass the 2008 Intelligence Authorization bill after Democrats cede key provisions regarding pre-war Iraq intelligence decried by Republicans.
• Study: US preparing ‘massive’ military attack against Iran. US now has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on key Iranian targets, according to a European analysis.
• CIA said to step up operations against Iran as hawks seek to tie Iraq bombs to Tehran. Administration shifts hawkish stance on Iran from nuclear weapons concerns to IED-Iraq worries. ‘They still need a trigger,’ former official says.
• US has been covertly arming Gulf States since 2004, officials say. According to intelligence officials, the US has covertly transferred weapons to Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates since 2004.
• National Intelligence Estimate lacks supporting evidence, possibly politicized, intelligence officials say. Officials suspect a focus on Hezbollah is tied to the Administration’s increasingly hawkish stance on Iran.
• UK officials caution media reports tying car bomb attacks to Qaeda. Comments regarding Qaeda responsibility in London airport attack are spurious, officials say.
• New documents link Kissinger to two 1970s coups. Release of CIA’s ‘Family Jewels’ provides insight into political juggernaut and Bush Administration adviser.
• Spying on the spy: Raw Story interviews former FBI investigator Eric O’Neill. Raw Story interview provides insight into agent's riveting account that formed the basis for the film Breach.
• CIA running black propaganda operation against Iran, Syria and Lebanon, officials say. Some intelligence sources are wary of highly classified Pentagon operations that involve Middle East information war.
• US intelligence does not show Syrian nuclear weapons program, officials say. Cheney’s hand is seen behind leaks of ‘misleading’ stories that suggest Syria had pursued a nuclear weapons program in concert with North Korea.
• Israeli air strike did not hit nuclear facility, intelligence officials say. A Sept. 6 Israeli attack may have been spawned from a chemical weapons disaster.

Raw Story Investigates Team's Julie Weisberg:

• Lack of funds may force group to return imperiled gay Iraqis to the streets. Iraqi LGBT community set to lose lone protection group. (Two safehouses ultimately closed for lack of funds).
• Citing shortage of armored humvees, Army has soldiers train on simulators. US Army bases substituting computer simulators for armored humvees because there aren’t enough to train on in the continental United States.
• Well-connected drug company obtained anthrax vaccine contracts despite side effects. Pharmaceutical company with Bush ties receives lone contract for anthrax vaccine
• Minority AIDS Initiative threatened by funding changes. Critical federal HIV/AIDS funding is suspended on heels of Center for Disease Control call for heightened response.

NEW TEAM MEMBERS - In concert with operating budget

• In September, RAW STORY hired MIKE AIVAZ to help cover the increasingly popular landscape of video. Mike previously made clips for YouTube, and is helping to edit Raw Replay, in concert with Raw Story Associate Editor David Edwards. Mike makes six to ten videos a day, and covers Friday nights and weekends as well, giving Raw Story a combined total of nearly a dozen channels being recorded 24/7.
• This week, RAW STORY brought on Greg Wasserstrom, formerly an updater, to take on writing up more videos. This will mean you'll begin to see more video content earlier in the day, and more video content overall.
• Also in September RAW STORY hired Jason Rhyne to cover Capitol Hill and the 2008 presidential campaigns.

Donate whatever you can afford -- every dollar helps. Donations of $50 or more will receive an ad-free account for one year.

Alternately, you can subscribe to an ad-free account for $3.95/month or $34.95/year. By doing so, you can rid yourself of those pesky ads on our front page and original stories, and help Raw provide better content at the same time. 

Want to promote your business or cause? If you'd like to advertise, please contact Toby Slingerland (publisher@rawstory.com).

Thank you for supporting Raw Story.  With your help, we can make Raw Story the site for Raw, investigative news.

Sincerely,

Founder/Editor, Raw Story

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