Today marks a milestone for us: Six months ago, we brought you the first issue of Bitterroot magazine. The process, of course, began long before then. We launched our newsletter in January, and Maggie and I spent months concocting the magazine, connecting with writers, and chasing stories before the site ever launched.
Looking back on our progress has us excited as ever about Bitterroot‘s future, but building The West’s Magazine hinges on the most important element of our model: reader support.
We’re immensely proud of the stories Bitterroot has published so far. From day one, we’ve highlighted an unruly offshoot of the Mormon church, the trauma asylum-seekers endure when they are separated from their families, and the complex interplay of love and identity for Native folks. We introduced readers to a fisherman who wanted nothing more than to preserve a free-flowing Gila River, and explained the uncertain educational future of DACA recipients.
One of our goals has been to showcase interesting solutions to seemingly intractable issues. Our stories have documented programs connecting inmates with nature to reduce recidivism, brewers and winemakers who might have the solution to our recycling woes, folks who combine clean energy and farming, and a road map to combat gun violence. We’re also highlighting connections between the urban and rural West like no other publication.
With Bitterroot, we’re trying something unique in the journalism world. We don’t rely on advertisers interested only in pageviews, nor on the whims of deep-pocketed donors or a huge corporate owner. Instead, Bitterroot is funded exclusively by its subscribers. For the cost of a beer or two, you don’t just get access to patiently reported stories about the West on a beautiful, ad-free site — you’re also supporting a new model for journalism, one we think is most sustainable in the long run.
At its core, Bitterroot is a magazine built by and for people who deeply love the West. We’re not backed by venture capital money or a foundation grant. Maggie and I started Bitterroot with our own money and the initial support of our Kickstarter backers. The two of us have worked relentlessly to find talented writers around the West and give them a platform to tell the most important stories about the region’s politics, economy, culture, and environment.
High quality, in-depth, patient journalism like the kind we produce is expensive, and with your support, Bitterroot will continue to tell those stories. But we also aspire to grow into more than just a magazine: We want to be a salon where mobile, engaged Westerners can gather to better understand the region we love. Underpinning every Bitterroot story is the desire to celebrate the West’s best traits, and to posit solutions to its biggest challenges. Our next step is to take these benefits off the page and give our members even more ways to connect and discuss the West’s most interesting people and ideas.
To our members: Thank you for making the first six months of Bitterroot possible. For those of you just now discovering the magazine, we hope you’ll subscribe. In the coming months and years, you’ll be part of a new era of journalism, one befitting the innovative and amazing region we call home.
