Funding Friday: Off Assignment

I backed this journalism project a few days ago and I thought I would highlight it to all of you here today.

Off Assignment is a publication that allows writers to go off assignment and tell the stories they really want to tell.

Here’s a video that explains it in more detail:

#crowdfunding

Comments (Archived):

  1. JimHirshfield

    Remember MTV’s Behind the Music?

    1. LE

      I like things like that, even if I am not big into the subject matter.This was pretty good, even if you weren’t a Monkees fan:http://www.smithsonianchann

  2. awaldstein

    Talking about alt media, this podcast on Vice Media is excellent.How I Built This btw is the most interesting podcast series i’ve found about businesses and people from the people and idea pov. Many of these businesses also started from Kickstarter campaigns.The podasts with the founder of Lyft and with Kate & Andy Spade are exceptional.https://www.producthunt.com

  3. Vendita Auto

    Good on you. An opportunity for many to be one & self regulated by all, good luck

  4. Kurt Stangl

    Thanks for posting! I’ve been busy and may have missed it. Can’t think of a more important quest in these strange days…

  5. LE

    This opening paragraph from the Kickstarter page does a much better job than the video selling the project:Anyone who has ever shared a drink with a journalist knows the truth: the most surprising, funny and life-changing part of the trip rarely makes it into the narrow confines of an article. Enter Off Assignment: where you find out what really happened on that overnight in Nairobi, that bus ride to Quito. The part that might not be tidy or flattering or even legal, but that that tells a deeper truth, and honors all the ways the world is sure to surprise us, once we surrender to it.In the following paragraph they should use more ordinary people friendly language:Off Assignment, a new 501(c)(3) publication, wants to give you those last two-thirds….

  6. Joe Cardillo

    Great project, just backed. Whenever a reporter or writer I know uses a variation on the phrase “there’s something important / interesting here that I wish I could develop” it’s always worth listening to further.

  7. jason wright

    Hitherto assigned by whom?

  8. Vendita Auto

    Fred Wilson Think you have much in common ref funding =http://blog.samaltman.com/2…”We are only about 30 years into the age of software, about 20 years into the age of the internet, and about 2 years into the age of artificial intelligence. Each of these by themselves is a technology revolution that I believe we will look back on as being extremely significant; taken together, I believe they will represent the most significant technology revolution in human history—I believe we are likely to have less in common with whatever we call the most intelligent species on the planet in 600 years than we did with humans 60,000 years ago.” (Sam Altman) I sooooo agree.

    1. jason wright

      Unless we all die from over exposure to radiation before ever reaching that point.

      1. Vendita Auto

        Try factor 50 !!

  9. Pointsandfigures

    too bad there isn’t a platform where you could pay by article for stuff you wanted to read. wonder if totally unbundling news/mags would work? Could be done with fractions of Bitcoin. You could also pay monthly for writers that you liked.

    1. awaldstein

      you don’t need bitcoin to do this.you need a market behavior.

  10. LE

    I think you need to take a stronger stand here Charlie.Trump supporter? No bread for you.https://www.youtube.com/wat…Put it front and center on your packaging. Actually a great publicity stunt now that I am thinking about it……..

  11. awaldstein

    still can’t get that press conference out of my head.

  12. Salt Shaker

    My new name for Trump is “Orange Sunshine.” Both LSD and the man are hallucinogenic distortion fields.

  13. jason wright

    A reason beyond mere tech as to why the establishment media is broken and discredited. Ownership.The Washington Post belongs to that Amazon guy. Post unceasingly attacks Trump. Why? Bezos is setting up a negotiating position. He gets what he wants from the W.H. and I guarantee to you that the Post will then moderate its ‘editorial policy’ (business strategy) on Donald J. Trump.The Fourth Estate sold out its responsibilities long ago.

  14. Pointsandfigures

    I heard a great comment by Bret Baier of Fox. If you were a Trump supporter, you were cheering. If you were anti-Trump, your head exploded.

  15. jason wright

    I watched it live from start to finish. Those crypto fascists (neo liberals) have had it coming for decades. I’m not a natural supporter of Trump, but I think he’s doing democracy a service by taking on the unholy trinity of media, public relations and lobbying industries.

  16. awaldstein

    you belittle LSD and the legacy of Owsley 😉