Tag Archives: Diggerland

Is VTDigger In Trouble?

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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.

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Further Adventures in Fundraising Desperation

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Well, when I went looking for a cheeky illustration for this post about the fortunes of VTDigger, I didn’t plan on discovering Diggerland, “the one and only construction theme and water park in the U.S.!” (Exclamation mark theirs.) But that’s the internet for ya. The real Diggerland, complete with opportunities to “Drive, Ride & Operate specially engineered, real construction machinery,” is located in a New jersey exurb of Philadelphia, which sounds about right.

So no, our favorite nonprofit “print” news organization hasn’t opened a theme park. Not yet. But the idea doesn’t seem completely farfetched given the sweaty, sweaty nature of Digger’s current fundraising campaign.

If you haven’t visited VTDigger in the last several weeks, you’ve missed a huge number of fundraising messages competing for space with a shrinking number of actual news stories. You’ve missed messages directly from staff reporters, which rings ethical alarm bells among ink-stained wretches. You’ve missed pitches that tie support for Digger to the provision of heat and sustenance, which strikes me as a tad aggressive. The implicit message is if you don’t support VTDigger, you don’t care about the poor among us. Which is nonsense.

To me, if you can’t attract enough support for solid journalism as a worthy investment, then little tricks like “give today or someone will be left in the cold” or “give now or someone’s gonna go hungry” aren’t going to make up the difference. Also they just feel uncomfortably tacky.

But if the folks at Digger are a little desperate, a perusal of their latest IRS filing will tell you why.

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