Subscribers buy a product. Members join the cause.

When Josh Marshall asked me if I would participate in TPM’s membership drive, I said yes because… well, because it’s TPM! And Josh is one of my heroes. I have been reading and writing about his site since 2004. 

But also: I have been reading and writing about membership models in public service journalism since 2009. More recently (20I7-2021) I directed The Membership Puzzle Project, which studied how membership works in the wild, so to speak. I would classify Talking Points Memo as a membership site, one of the best we have.

But what does that mean?

When in doubt, draw a distinction. Subscription and membership are not the same thing. We should separate one from the other. That will open more ways of supporting good journalism. Subscribers buy a product. Members join the cause. One is a transaction, the other a kind of commitment. This distinction matters because around the world readers are being asked to pay more of the costs for quality journalism.

When you cannot receive the product unless you pay your share of the costs, that’s subscription. It works well for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times and for many other newsrooms. Membership sites typically do not have paywalls but there’s more to it than that. For example: People who have joined the cause for good journalism by funding their favorite news site on a voluntary basis often want it to be kept free to those who are not members. Which is how public radio operates in the U.S. (Click to see how TPM handles this.) 

In March of this year the Salt Lake Tribune made an announcement: “We’re removing the paywall. Here’s how it will work…” 

They described how paid subscriptions (mandatory in the past) will turn into memberships (voluntary, and a tax-deductible donation.) Then they went a step further. “We believe trusted, independent journalism is a right — not a luxury. And at a time when misinformation spreads faster than ever, expanding access isn’t just important — it’s necessary.”

This is what I mean by “members join the cause.” It’s more than “who pays for news?” or what replaces the ad revenue lost to digital platforms? For the editors in Salt Lake City, the cause is clear: to provide everyone living in Utah with trustworthy and accurate information, “not only those who can afford to access it.”

That contrasts with the model at the New York Times, which organizes itself— quite successfully — around “journalism worth paying for.” Again: there are different ways to go about these things. The Times has high quality podcasts that are free to any listener, but it’s still a “digital-first, subscription-first business, centered on journalism worth paying for.”

Talking Points Memo is a member-funded publication in the extreme; 91 percent of its revenue comes from those who have “joined the cause,” and become a member. (The rest is from ads.) But there is more to it than “who keeps the lights on?” More even than doing great journalism that holds the powerful accountable. There’s the specific cause around which TPM is organized these days.

“Chronicling a national crisis at a time when independent journalism, and journalism in general, is being hollowed out,” is one way editors describe it.

Which crisis? “We’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.”  

TPM’s role: “The aggressive reporting required to get to the bottom of what we view as various plots against the American republic.”

What can readers do? “Becoming a member not only helps provide the financial resources to enable this work but, perhaps more importantly, is a sign of solidarity that you are with us on this mission.”

A sign of solidarity…

Yes to that. And I would go further. We are only at the beginning of the membership puzzle. In the future donating your knowledge and civic skills will become common practice in journalism.

The people at Talking Points Memo are leveling with you. We have a national crisis. Ready to join the cause?