Just can’t get enough of Diggerland, which sounds like a place that would appeal to a nine-year-old Phil Scott and very few others. It must have an audience or it’d be out of business, but I have no plans to visit.

Anyway. The latest from VTDigger seems… not good. Digger published a story on Monday announcing the resignation of CEO Sky Barsch, who arrived at the news nonprofit in April 2023 after the departure (ahem) of founder Anne Galloway. (The story was self-serving claptrap written by “VTD Editor” but read more like the product of a PR firm.)

Necessary disclaimer: I worked briefly for Digger in 2020 and was fired literally for using the word “dick” on Twitter. (Galloway found that distasteful.) Still, I am a financial supporter of Digger and wish them nothing but success. It is a vital component of our already meager media ecosystem.

Since my defenestration, I have had no significant contact with the organization or anyone who works there. What follows is my read of the situation from a completely outside perspective.

I can think of one benign explanation for Barsch’s exit: Perhaps it was simply time to move on for personal or professional reasons. Maybe she needs to move to Cucamonga to be closer to an aging relative. Maybe she’s gotten a better job offer from a larger organization here or elsewhere.

Any other explanation would reflect poorly on her tenure and on the state of VTDigger. I see many troubling signs, and I am concerned.

We know that Digger has suffered financial losses for three straight years, including all of Barsch’s time there. She inherited the issues causing those losses and there are no quick fixes. She did staunch the bleeding, but sustainable operation remains out of reach. Indeed, Digger’s problems seem remarkably consistent from Galloway’s tenure to the present. Her departure should have given the enterprise a chance to mature as an organization. It has yet to do so.

Markers, not necessarily in order:

— Staff turnover continues to be high, in a time when journalism jobs are scarce and Digger reporters enjoy the rare benefit of union representation. It should be a haven, and it’s not. (Some observers blame the union for Digger’s trouble. Nonsense, I say; a media organization worth its salt needs to offer good pay, benefits, and workplace protections. It shouldn’t need to be a sweatshop to survive.)

— The organization is losing money. It lost close to $2 million between 2022 and 2024, which is a lot for an enterprise with an annual budget of about $3 million. (2024’s losses were much smaller than 2023’s, to be fair.) The last financial figures we have are for the year 2024; no idea how they did in ’25.

— Digger’s news product has lost focus. Its stated mission is to shine a light on state government. Now it has reporters in several different parts of Vermont and frequently republishes stories from local outlets. There’s less attention (especially of the investigative variety) on government than in the days when Galloway was single-handedly breaking the EB-5 story. Reminder of its mission, taken from its 2024 filing with the IRS:

Our mission is to produce rigorous journalism that explains complex issues, holds the government accountable to the public, and engages Vermonters in the democratic process.

I’m sorry, but a lot of today’s Digger has nothing to do with that mission. It still does some of that stuff*, more than any other journalistic enterprise in Vermont, but its efforts have been spread much thinner and its capacity to be a government watchdog has weakened.

*Latest example: Erin Petenko’s thorough explanation of changes in U.S. Postal Service processes and how they’re affecting mail delivery in Vermont.

Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, we have Digger’s extremely sweaty 2025 end-of-year fundraising campaign, which offered plenty of special inducements and artificial deadlines. There were double and triple matches aplenty. There was active involvement by reporters, which didn’t bother me but was a new wrinkle. There were ties of donations to the provision of food and heat for struggling Vermonters, which made me squirm a little.

And there was the fact that Digger seemingly never publicized a goal for the campaign. I faintly recall seeing $500,000 as the target, but I cannot find any reference to that total or any other goal. I remember seeing a piece this month on Digger announcing a total of less than $460,000 raised, but now I can’t find it. So they maybe fell short of the goal? They sure aren’t saying so, and they sure as hell aren’t claiming victory.

The silence speaks volumes. And Barsch’s announcement so soon after the drive’s conclusion implies that things are not going well. We probably won’t find out anything more about Digger’s financial state until it files its IRS Form 990, which is due in October. Timely.

(Digger’s self-description touts the importance of transparency: “We share how we operate and how we’re funded because trust in journalism begins with transparency.” They are failing badly on that score. There is little to no financial or journalistic transparency as far as readers or the general public is concerned.)

While I was perusing the Internet Archive for traces of Digger’s fundraising campaign, I came across something I had forgotten about: Dirt Road News.

Remember that?

Dirt Road News was announced with great fanfare in August. It was a “community listening project focused on Vermont’s young and rural voices.” It involved a survey that was open to all readers, but Digger emphasized the need to hear from young, rural readers — “young” meaning anyone under 50.

Which shows you what the demographics for text-based news look like. If you still have some hair and it’s not all gray, you’re “young.”

Anyway. Digger promised “a public recap” of survey results “by November 2025.”

Spoiler alert: It hasn’t happened yet.

Digger also launched a series of community events. Well, sort of a series. Digger hosted “trivia night” and conversation at Babes Bar in Bethel on August 21 and at St. Johnsbury Distillery on on September 25.

And… that was it.

According to its own search function, Digger has published nothing about Dirt Road News since the St. J event. Oh, one exception: You can still buy Dirt Road News T-shirts at Digger’s merch page.

Maybe DRN is on an extended winter hiatus and events will resume in the spring. Maybe they’ll eventually publish the results of that survey.

Or maybe no one showed up for the pulse-pounding excitement of a night at a bar with a bunch of Digger managers, editors and reporters. Maybe the survey drew too few responses to be useful.

Okay, not every trial balloon takes to the air. But if they’ve dropped DRN, I’m kind of glad. Digger’s pursuit of younger, rural readers seems misguided. Trying to draw young people to a text-based digital product is fighting against some very powerful social tides. You’re not going to improve an old demographic by showing up at a bar or publishing a survey.

And trying to spread yourself across Vermont? Trying to report on the issues, events and concerns of rural areas? Not the best idea when you don’t have enough staff to carry out your core mission — producing journalism that “holds government accountable.”

THis blogger’s opinion: Digger needs to refocus on its mission. Shift resources away from the provinces and into the Statehouse. Digger could absolutely own the beat and make itself indispensable to anyone interested in Vermont politics, policy, and government. The retreat of other news organizations has left the market wide open for Digger to dominate. (This would leave plenty of opportunity to report on how state government does and does not serve the rest of Vermont, which would be a real service to us all.)

They shouldn’t worry about expanding readership. That’s a long-odds battle and they don’t have the troops. They should worry about serving their core audience. Those are the people most likely to become supporters.

Rule of thumb from my years of on-air fundraising in public radio: The people who give are the people who listen, first and foremost, to public radio. No amount of persuasion is going to attract the ones who tune in for “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” or Will Shortz’ Sunday puzzle, but not for the news during the week.

And no amount of triple matches or offers to feed the poor will open readers’ wallets if they aren’t fully satisfied with your product. You need what’s called a unique selling proposition: Offer something your audience can’t get anywhere else, and do it well.

I’ve been hoping that the hiring of experienced journalist Geeta Anand as editor-in-chief would signal a renewed commitment to the mission. So far, it hasn’t happened. Barsch’s departure creates another opportunity for a comprehensive rethink of what Digger is doing. I hope they take full advantage of the opportunity because what they’re doing now doesn’t seem to be working, not well enough to ensure a sustainable future.

VTDigger is too important to fail. Even in its smaller form today, it’s got far more capacity than any other media outlet. There are stories to tell, issues to explore, scandals to uncover, and Digger is best positioned to do that very necessary work. We all have an interest in its future.