It’s not exactly a secret. You can see who works at TPM right there on the masthead.
But many times over the years, new hires have come aboard only to wonder where everyone else is.
“Is this it?”
“This is everybody?”
We talk a lot around here about doing a lot with a little, about punching above our weight. Our ambition regularly exceeds our resources. But we sometimes forget that for many readers, we manage to project that we’re a much bigger, more robust outfit than we in fact are. Until a new member of the staff looks around and realizes there’s no wizard behind the curtain. It’s just us and a lot of hustle.
As we crank up our membership drive and ask you to join TPM Prime, I mention our small size this week for a couple of reasons.
When we say we’re a small independent news outlet, we mean it. We really are. We’re tiny. By every measure. You may have read TPM for a long time and known about TPM even longer. You may have seen TPMers on national TV. You may think of us in some sense as an institution. But TPM’s essential character is as a guerrilla news outfit, with a lean dedicated staff working extremely hard. Your membership goes a long way toward supporting our staff and the work they do. It’s essential.
Our very small size also speaks to the care with which we steward our resources. While there’s a conservatism in how we run the business, that’s a reflection of the collective temperament of the group of us that runs TPM, we’re also forced to shepherd resources and apply them carefully because our size doesn’t leave us any choice. We operate close to the bone. We have to make every dollar count. We try to pour everything we can into the core journalistic mission of TPM while still sustaining it as a going business concern.
If you like to support small, organic, free-range, artisanal businesses, that’s TPM. In every way. You can feel good about your membership and what it goes to support. If you already are a member, thank you so much and we ask you to renew your membership promptly. If you’re not a member yet, please take just a moment to join the TPM community. It’s important not just to me and to TPM but to the cause of independent journalism.
So if you’re not a member already, please click here to join.
