I wish them the best. So much so I decided to back it.
Now it will be interesting to see if enough people will get behind it. Because, as PBS and other public TV stations quickly discovered back in their early days, the viewing public will say they want one thing, such as "good programming" or "cultural shows" and "good music" - but will usually elect to watch something else instead. Like the latest episode of Walking Dead or whatever. So I'm not 100% optimistic this is going to happen. But hopefully those same people who claim to want news reporting as accurate, in depth, and "investigative" as they say they do (and like CNN originally started out to be) will come through and hit the pledge button.
If donations continue at their present pace they should hit their $950K target with time to spare.
The fund use breakout is also interesting in that the average salaries for the first year news team hovers roughly around $40K; and the admin/tech staff about the same. Not glamorous - but enough to get by on for the first year if you're dedicated to the cause. That's refreshing. Because half the Kickstarters I see that provide a salary breakout show them being so low that the project is doomed from the start in most cases. People need to eat. And projects that don't provide sufficient enough paychecks to keep their full-time staff out of public housing and off food stamps are far too common - and bound to fold fairly quickly.
But these folks seem to know their business. And it's always nice dealing with people like that. Because the old investment adage holds as true with crowdfunding as it does with standard business and securities investments:
To avoid serious injuries, never join a hardball league that allows amateurs to play.
