Sugar daddies

Wednesday, journalist/blogger David Appel pitched his blog readers to support a story filled with “big politics, big science, and big money.”

David has been investigating a sugar lobbying group’s attempt to get Congress to kill funding for the WHO, which offended the sugar daddies. “Usually, at this point I’d query editors of various magazines and, usually, get assigned an 800 word story or so, paying anywhere from $400 to $1,000 or more.”

Instead, he asked 40 readers to donate $5 each, so he can publish the story on his blog. $200 “is a fraction of what I’d usually get for this type of work, but I want to try it for the idea of it all.” David is “a full-time freelance science journalist living in southern Maine… has appeared in Scientific American, Salon, New Scientist, Nature, Audubon, the Boston Globe, Discover, Psychology Today, and many other publications.”

Thursday, David reported “in just 24 hours, I’ve received $370 in donations from those interested in reading more about sugar, diet, and politics.” Congratulations David.

(Sidenote: I found this story on the site of Christopher Allbritton, who has raised $10,000 from readers to report from Iraq. After posting, I realized this was the type of thing I’d find on Hylton’s amazingly comprehensive blog. I cked. Yep. Hylton had it Wednesday.)