Starting Monday things will begin to look different around here: we’ll be beginning an experiment with running advertisements on Mondoweiss. This move represents yet another milestone in the evolution of Mondoweiss. We will be celebrating the site’s 10 year anniversary in 2016 and as our audience and influence continue to grow we are constantly looking for ways to sustain our work and make sure we’ll be here over the long haul (or as long as the issues we care about remain marginalized). Ads are not a silver bullet, but they will help, and we believe they will add value for our readers.
While we hope that ads can become a predictable revenue generator, they will never replace the primary way that we fund our work: the support of our readers. Next week we will also be starting our end of the year fundraising campaign. And though ads may help keep the lights on (or in our case the servers twirling), it is the fundraising drive that assures we will have funds to bring you in-depth reporting on the struggle for Palestinian rights—on the ground, in the U.S., and around the world.
So, what can you expect come Monday? We will only run ads that have been approved by us. We will not allow advertisements that are counter to our values (so, no Birthright or AIPAC ads). We will feature ads from organizations and businesses that support human rights, and hopefully the ads will alert you to the events, books, groups and products that you come to Mondoweiss to learn about in the first place. P.S. If you’re a potential advertiser and this intrigues you, please get in touch — advertising@mondoweiss.net.
We know this is a big change, it’s also one we’re excited about. Thanks for being along with us on this journey as Mondoweiss continues to grow.
Eeek!
Please don’t have any of those hypersensitive thingies that burst into their song and dance routines out of nowhere as you scroll down a page! They’re Orrible!
Money itself is not the root of all evil. Craving for money is. I think the Mondoweiss editors have shown their commitment to honesty and decency. I trust their policy on ads will be consistent with that fundamental commitment. Strengthening Mondoweiss will be a good thing. Perhaps Mondoweiss itself will become able to advertise elsewhere.
I suspect they won’t be the same of targeted ads we see in the NY Times, on CNN, and the like, which put their obligations as members of the Israel Lobby first.
Your desire to raise more revenue is entirely understandable. At the same time, it is true that ad networks have long been vectors for distributing malware as well as for tracking and identifying users. A recent example:
http://www.itworld.com/article/3005032/cybercriminals-turn-to-video-ads-to-plans-malware.html
“We will feature ads from organizations and businesses that support human rights, and hopefully the ads will alert you to the events, books, groups and products that you come to Mondoweiss to learn about in the first place.”
This is a good idea, and I hope it will raise lots of money for mondoweiss.