I don’t do this often, so let’s get the awkward part out of the way: I’m about to ask for your support.
Still here? Great.
We’re already halfway(!) through 2026, which seems impossible. So it feels like a good time to step back and take stock of what Reason Gone Mad has been up to this year.
Over the last six months, RGM has published the kind of reporting that simply doesn’t exist here without someone choosing to invest the time—and financial resources—to do the work:
∎ An investigation into Lenco’s armored vehicle sales that sparked a statewide conversation and led the governor, and others, to call on the company to stop selling to ICE.
∎ Yet another death in a crosswalk in Great Barrington—and the backstory no one else has reported.
∎ An in-depth examination of the rapid acceleration of nuclear-weapons-related work in Pittsfield that no other news outlet has touched.
∎ How the state’s department of public health downplayed blood testing for PCBs here while offering it statewide.
∎ And MassDEP’s investigation into Great Barrington’s quiet role helping a developer take over a town-controlled brownfield to benefit a luxury apartment complex.
None of these stories were quick. None were easy. And none were done by anyone else. All were the product of persistence: digging into thousands of pages of documents, following leads, and sticking with stories, in some cases for years.
Sure, in an alternate universe, I could just publish happy fluff, reprint the press releases sent daily by elected officials and government agencies, and not look too closely at anything. That would be simpler and almost certainly less stressful. And if that alternate universe also featured dogs and cats that live as long as we do, well, I’d have a hard time saying no to that. But that’s not what this is.
As you know, there is no paywall on RGM and there won’t be one. Every story is available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Reader support—from those who can afford it—is what makes that possible. And avoiding sponsorships and advertising allows me to take on challenging stories and follow facts wherever they lead.
But at this point, drawing on my home equity line of credit and siphoning funds from my modest retirement account is not a sustainable business model. (I didn’t get an M.B.A., but I’m still pretty confident in that statement.)
And let’s be clear-eyed about another challenge in this moment. You may have noticed that AI companies have been cheerfully strip-mining journalists’ copyrighted work to train their chatbots and generate “AI summaries”—often with mistakes—that siphon away the traffic, audience, and revenue that sustain reporting like this. It makes independent support matter more than ever. (Obviously, without the reporting done by others, those summaries would be entirely fact-free.)
Today there are important RGM stories in progress—local, statewide, and beyond—along with some of the sanity-preserving humor and satirical projects I promised when The Berkshire Argus transitioned to RGM earlier this year. The more resources I can pull together, the more time I can dedicate to this work. Without it, stories like these simply won’t get written.
If this matters to you, here are three ways to help:
- Become a paid subscriber →
- Make a one-time contribution of any amount →
- For those in a position to make a larger contribution, the new RGM Investigative Fund—established by the nonprofit Alternative Newsweekly Foundation—directly supports in-depth RGM reporting projects via your tax-deductible donations. →
(To make a contribution from a donor-advised fund, click here.)
If you’re already a paid subscriber or supporter, thank you! Every story mentioned above exists only because you made it possible, and I am enormously grateful.
As always, please be in touch with news tips, story ideas, favorite recipes, and—perhaps above all—how we can create that universe where our pets live as long as we do.
Onward,
Bill
P.S. If you missed any of these stories, here are a few links.
Bill Shein
Bill Shein
Bill Shein
Bill Shein
Bill Shein
