The decline of local journalism across this country is creating a crisis for democracy. In many areas, residents no longer have access to the information they need to understand the critical issues in their community and hold elected officials accountable. In an effort to sustain local, investigative journalism for the Cobb community, the Marietta Daily Journal team led by Otis Brumby and JK Murphy launched a new effort called the Cobb Journalism Fund.
We set an ambitious goal for 2024: $125,000 to fund local, independent journalism committed to covering the issues important to Cobb County.
Today, we are honored to announce that in the four months since our launch, we have hit $100,000 in direct support of the Cobb Journalism Fund.
What have we done with this early support?
The Marietta Daily Journal has made all of its in-depth coverage of the upcoming Cobb transit tax free and available to all. That includes over 30 articles on this issue published in 2024. We have mailed over 25,000 information cards (image below) to alert the community about access to this resource. Furthermore, the MDJ has committed to publishing a voter guide on the transit tax on October 12 that will also be free for all to access online.
What will we do next?
If the Cobb Journalism Fund can raise the remaining $25,000 from our initial goal before October 17, the Marietta Daily Journal will expand their coverage of the upcoming election and make a candidate voter guide available online and also allow free access. If you are interested in helping us reach this goal and provide this resource to the community, please reply to this email or call 678-249-7207.
Your support will allow us to continue this work.
Protecting local news is vital to the civic health in our community. Your support is the foundation to these efforts. The Cobb Journalism Fund of the Cobb Community Foundation provides the charitable vehicle to preserve local journalism in Cobb County. The CCF is a public charity under section 170(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Cobb Journalism Fund can accept unlimited personal, business, and trust contributions.
We believe it is critical to our community to do deep-dive, investigative work on the issues important to Cobb Country residents and we hope to continue with your support.
Sincerely,
The Cobb Journalism Fund Team on behalf of Otis Brumby & JK Murphy
Support The Cobb Journalism Fund Today!
If you would like to mail in support to the CJF:
Please make checks payable to: Cobb Community Foundation
Memo line: Cobb Journalism Fund #48241
Mail to: Cobb Community Foundation
1100 Circle 75 Pkwy, Ste 1000
Atlanta, GA 30339
