Short Summary
"10 Ways The Media Is Letting You Down... Number 7 Will Blow Your Mind!"
Don't you hate yourself when you click on those headlines? Soundbites and listicles are taking over media, dumbing down complex issues like inequality, foreign policy, climate change and immigration. We can't afford to be wrong on these issues and we need your help to change that.
We are building the premier media company for our generation. We have
spent the last three months cultivating an incredible community of the most talented young people across the world to share their stories, insight
and perspectives with readers in over 130
countries. We have seen our web traffic grow
exponentially over the
last three months and are excited for the future, but we need your help!
Our community are young politicians,
activists, entrepreneurs, economists and people who want to be heard and
share their voice. We are giving them a platform to do so on the issues that
matter most to them.
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This is our passion. We met at Harvard Business School and realized that we spent all our time talking about these topics. Fred worked for the UK
government and BCG and used to be the Managing Editor of Oxford University’s
Newspaper. Tewfik managed the MIT International Review when
he was an undergrad there and worked for McKinsey, Facebook and Roominate. Alex is our media guru having helped launch HuffPost Live and worked at ABC News 'Nightline'.
What We Need & What You Get
We need $15k to really take this to the next level. We
currently have an MVP up using WordPress that you can find here: http://opedspace.com/
From in-depth analysis
of the war in Yemen, to an exclusive documentary with the families of Egyptian
Christians beheaded by ISIS and a series of posts from the rebel front lines in Eastern
Ukraine.
We need the money to do an overhaul of the website and to
improve our video capabilities. We currently produce only written content and
want to shift into more rich media stuff starting with a Video series featuring
one of our contributors called “Time Out With Tara.”
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From there we want to run
concerted campaigns about the issues that matter to our generation (e.g.
political dysfunction, diminished job opportunities and climate change). Our
current site can’t handle all that so we need to give it an upgrade.
Aside from that general feeling of smug satisfaction that
one gets after doing a good thing we are prepared to offer you more than that!
·
$10 – gets you onto our weekly email list that
highlights our best content
·
$75 – gets you a trendy OpedSpace t-shirt (this will show
your friends that you are an informed consumer of quality news)
·
$250 – gets you a ticket to our OpedSpace Contributor Conference where you can interact with our community that is producing all
the great stories you will be reading/watching
The
Impact
We hope to change the way media is created and consumed by
our generation. Despite popular belief this isn’t a narcissistic generation.
Sure we like our occasional selfie but we are also deeply consumed by issues
that go beyond our immediate surroundings. That can be seen by the way the
world intently followed the Arab Spring in 2011 and how thousands of Americans
participated in Tea Party rallies and the #blacklivesmatter movement. Young
people of all political persuasions are taking action.
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Whether it is the second year analyst on Wall Street that
still finds time to volunteer at an education NGO, or the Tunisian Civil Rights
activist who has devoted her entire life to improving job opportunities to her
compatriots you see young people all around the world actively contributing to
their communities. The sad part is that their stories are largely ignored and
unheard… We want to change that.
Risks
& Challenges
Media is tough and this won’t be easy. Aside from the
usual “how do you monetize?” questions getting good content from around the
world is always a challenge. We are also committing ourselves to being credible
and accurate, a last stop destination for international insight for our
generation. Making sure we do that will be a challenge that we will rely on our
contributor base to overcome. We’ve invested upfront quite a bit of time and
energy to making sure our contributors are the best and brightest people from
their country. We work with them to ensure they produce great content and
double check their facts and figures on the stories we publish.
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Other
Ways You Can Help
If you can’t contribute (and even if you can) you can
still help us in other ways.
Like us on Facebook.
Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Instagram. Tell your friends about
us and read the stuff we post!
