This is not an easy time to be a journalist. Our revenue models are broken; the president deems us enemies of the state; and it’s harder than ever to get government gatekeepers to give us information that, without question, belongs to the public.
Kevin Fitzgerald’s recent piece on the new Coachella Valley PIO Task Force includes a rather striking quote from CV Strategies’ Erin LaCombe: “The media organizations are shrinking every single day. And after COVID, I thought, ‘Now, in the Coachella Valley, there are actually more public information officers than there are reporters.’”
Fortunately, we have some friends who are helping us out.
We received significant help in producing the two stories featured on our May 2026 print-edition cover. Melissa Daniels’ piece, looking at the ways in which health organizations are finding new ways to reach patients frightened by Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions under Trump 2.0, is the first in a series of stories she’s doing as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s California Health Equity Fellowship.
Meanwhile, the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation (CVJF) awarded the Independent and The Palm Springs Post a grant to help us do our joint investigation on Guide Dogs of the Desert. Reporter Maggie Miles reviewed dozens of documents, emails and messages, and spoke to more than 15 people involved with Guide Dogs of the Desert, while reporting on the piece for six months; Post publisher Mark Talkington and I spent many hours working with Maggie. Knowing we could afford to do all of this thanks to the CVJF grant was a big help—and a massive relief.
We also received a big assist from Lawyers for Reporters, a project of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, which, in their own words, “provides pro bono legal assistance to local and mission-driven journalism organizations in the United States.” For no charge, the good folks there reviewed the piece (several times!) to make sure we were being as fair and accurate as we possibly could.
Beyond this month’s issue, we’ve received pro bono help in the past from the First Amendment Coalition, a wonderful group that “educates, advocates, and litigates to advance government transparency and First Amendment protections for all.”
Through AAN Publishers, Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION) and the Google News Initiative, we’ve received funding to improve our business practices and bolster our coverage; for example, funding from AAN allowed us to launch our 11 Days a Week events newsletter a couple of years ago.
Of course, we also get a big assist from some of you, our wonderful readers, who send us contributions as Supporters of the Independent. (If you want to become one of these supporters, click here.)
To all of these organizations, and to you, dear readers: Thank you.
Note: This is a slightly edited version of the editor’s note that appeared in the May 2026 print edition. Much of this was originally published online in the April 23 Indy Digest.
