Why I’m Still Locked Out of Capitol Hill (And How You Can Help)
To cover Congress, you need access. To get access, you need money.
Last month, I applied for permanent credentials to the congressional press gallery under Capital & Empire, which would allow me to report from the Capitol on the same basis I did for years as a staff reporter at outlets like The Intercept and The Nation.
This week, I learned that Capital & Empire does not qualify for permanent credentials because too much of its revenue comes from grants and donations rather than paid subscriptions and advertising.
In other words, Congress is telling me that before I can regularly cover the institution as an independent journalist, I first need to prove that my journalism has been properly commodified.
The issue was not my reporting experience, or whether my independent outlet is a serious news organization. I have previously held congressional credentials and remain in good standing with the galleries.
The sole obstacle, the director of the Periodical Press Gallery told me, is that Capital & Empire lacks the “right” mix of revenue. Under the gallery’s rules, for-profit publications must be “supported chiefly by advertising or by subscription.” On paper, that may sound like a sensible safeguard to ensure publications are financially independent and not fronts for advocacy groups or other outside interests (though it is worth asking what qualifies as an “outside interest” in a media system where much of the mainstream press is owned by billionaires and corporations with their own material interests to protect).
In practice, however, the requirement tends to push out exactly the kinds of journalists most likely to build alternatives to corporate media: independent reporters, early-stage publications, and those without family wealth, venture capital, or elite institutional backing.
Capital & Empire is a for-profit company that I own and control, retaining full ownership and editorial independence over the publication. (Yes, I’m a Marxist and, yes, I find this funny too.) To accept grant funding and tax-deductible donations while I build the publication, I set up a fiscal sponsorship arrangement with the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting small independent journalism projects across the country.
This is not an unusual arrangement. As the economics of journalism have deteriorated, grants and philanthropic support have become one of the few viable ways for independent reporters to build new outlets or work on projects without relying on wealthy patrons, venture capital, or corporate advertisers.
The fiscal sponsor relationship does not give the foundation any editorial control over Capital & Empire. It simply allows me to receive philanthropic support while retaining full ownership and independence over the publication. That support is what has made it possible for me to devote myself to Capital & Empire full time.
Now, the very funding that allowed me to launch an independent publication is being treated as evidence that the publication is not yet sufficiently established to receive permanent congressional credentials.
For reporters at major news organizations, this requirement is largely invisible. Their credentials come with the institution. But for journalists trying to build something from scratch, it creates a frustrating Catch-22: to build a sustainable congressional news outlet, you need access to Congress. But to get access to Congress, you first have to prove you have already built a financially sustainable congressional news outlet.
Legacy newsrooms are shrinking, and the most ambitious reporting is being done by independent outlets and journalists. Congress’s credentialing rules still reflect a media landscape in which legitimacy is measured primarily by whether a publication has already achieved the scale and revenue base of an established institution. They said they will give Capital & Empire credentials as soon as it starts accumulating capital on their terms.
At a time when the White House and Pentagon are actively chasing out any reporting whatsoever, Congress should not be reinforcing the same dynamic.
Start up publications, independent journalists, and reporters without institutional backing or personal wealth face the steepest uphill climb. The people most likely to build alternatives to corporate media are often the least able to survive the years of unpaid or underpaid labor required to meet standards designed for a media landscape that no longer exists.
I’ve been covering politics in Washington since I was 20 years old. Since launching Capital & Empire, I’ve reported from Palestine, where I was followed and intimidated by Israeli soldiers while documenting life under occupation. I traveled to Cuba, where I experienced rolling blackouts firsthand and saw what it looks like when an entire country is slowly strangled by decades of U.S. economic warfare. Back in Washington, I’ve covered congressional war powers fights over Iran and Cuba, and just this week sources told me about a classified CIA assessment on the Iran war.
I want to spend my time doing what I’ve done for the last decade: chasing down senators, cornering members of Congress in hallways, and asking direct questions about war, capitalism, and the political economy of American empire. There are a lot of people on the Hill I need to talk to, and endless questions that need answering. I would rather spend my energy sticking a phone in the faces of senators and other war criminals than navigating yet another layer of Washington gatekeeping.
If you value this kind of independent reporting, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to Capital & Empire for $5 a month. I don’t put my work behind a paywall because I believe journalism is a public good. But reader support is what allows me to keep doing this work and, in this case, helps me build the subscriber base needed to secure permanent congressional credentials.
If you’re not in a position to subscribe, sharing this with anyone who believes Congress could use more scrutiny would mean a great deal. With your help, I can spend less time navigating a system built to keep outsiders out and more time confronting the people who wield power and inflict suffering on working people around the world.
Just make sure your $5 to Capital & Empire is not tax deductible.
Thanks for letting us know what you need, Aida. I happily upgraded my subscription.