Please help make "Words for the Wise" even wiser and maybe even a bit wordier.
Your semi-annual pitch to become a paying subscriber.
Okay, full disclosure: The above photo is not of me, even when I was younger. But it is true that my journalism career began in radio. To be precise, in Los Angeles, at Pacifica station KPFK, in 1978. That’s 45 years ago. My reporting has taken me to five continents, and has included topics ranging from science, art, travel, culture, politics, and more. I’ve been sued for defamation (and threatened with lawsuits dozens of times), had my name dragged through the mud, and lies told about my reporting, but I have survived it all.
Today I work as an independent journalist, publishing my work in a number of respected outlets. But my preference is to be entirely independent and free of editorial control—including the whims of editors who sometimes just don’t get what is news and what is not.
That’s why I started this Substack newsletter, which will celebrate its third anniversary this October. If you have been reading it regularly, you will know that this publication is very eclectic, covering everything I am interested in—which includes a lot of topics, even if it might seem to some that I am stuck on a few (like Covid origins.)
Speaking of regularly, I hope readers will have noticed that I have been making a big effort lately to publish at least once a week. But that’s where you come in (paid subscribers, you can stop reading now if you want, but please don’t—there’s something you can do too.)
I also hope you notice that these posts take a lot of work and a lot of time. I try not to just dash off half-baked opinion, but support what I say with evidence, usually in the form of links to my sources of information. Obviously this is a commentary publication, but I hope you agree it is more than just punditry I am offering here.
Now, I have made a pledge that I will never break: I have promised that no one will ever have to pay for these posts who doesn’t want to. Every day more people sign on as free subscribers, and that is good and much appreciated.
Nor do I expect to get wealthy doing this. As you probably know, Substack, when it first started up, paid huge royalties up front to some big name writers, and some of them are really making a lot of money doing this. That’s not me. I am more of a middle name writer. But it is nevertheless the case that if more folks took out paying subscriptions, I would be able to do much more original reporting—I have a long history as an investigative reporter—which is expensive and time-consuming.
So, please consider taking out a sub—especially if you have been reading and enjoying this newsletter for a period of time without paying. Again, you don’t have to—I won’t hold it against anyone if they don’t!—but your help can make this a better publication with greater range and more highly-reported pieces.
I’m going to make it easy for you. If you are ready to subscribe right now, today, please click on this button:
If you have become a reader more recently and want to wait just a bit before you start paying, you can take advantage of this 60 day special offer:
And if you are a paying or nonpaying subscriber, you can give a friend a gift subscription of “Words for the Wise” —
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And as always, you can comment here about anything you like, including topics you would like to see covered:
But whichever button or buttons you decide to push, I hope you will hit at least one. And no matter what you decide to do, I also hope you will keep reading and sharing this newsletter.
With thanks and best wishes to all,
Michael
