Dallas Observer Kicks Off Spring Membership Campaign

If you find what you read in the Dallas Observer valuable, we have an important request.

Support us. Help us grow so we can support our community even more by telling the important stories you want to read. It's easy. That's why we're having our first-ever spring membership campaign, with the theme: "Your Support, Our Commitment, Real Change."

Between today and June 7, our goal is to raise $4,000 from readers. You can help by becoming a member and giving any amount to support our newsroom. Considering that 26,000 people turn to the Dallas Observer for a shot of news every day, we're optimistic y'all like and value us enough that we can meet — or exceed — that goal.

Local newsrooms are disappearing across America, and today more than 200 U.S. counties are “news deserts” with limited access to reliable local reporting, according to researchers at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. They predict another 228 counties are at substantial risk of becoming news deserts in the coming years. We hope that won't be Dallas' fate, but challenges in the news business also threaten to shrink the scope and diversity of voices keeping tabs on the city, its government and its culture.

Trustworthy, openminded local news reporting like ours spurs growth, fosters relationships and helps to ensure that everyone is informed about the issues that matter most, which is essential to a healthy democracy. It also requires support from readers like you.

What do you get in exchange?

You get a small, scrappy, staff of journalists who work hard each day to find important stories others ignore and ask important questions that get to the core of what's really happening in Dallas and North Texas. For example:

• We’re closely following the important local and state races in this vital election year.
• We’re tracking the continuing efforts to censor what books are on library shelves in Texas and continually updating our list of the most targeted books in Texas.
• We’re hard at work on the 2024 edition of our annual Best of Dallas® issue cataloging all the good things in Big D.
• We’re doing thorough updates to our lists of the Top 100 Bars (coming in July) and Top 100 Restaurants (coming in December).

Most important, you get the straight story, reported without fear or favor. We're a free news site, which means we can't be bought. But staying free doesn't come cheaply, so please help us in our important work of remaining Dallas' independent voice.