[JURIST announcement] The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism [advocacy website] on Monday released its annual State of the News Media Report [materials]. Among other notable findings, the report says (for all intents and purposes) that more people should be reading, and contributing to, JURIST.

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t say that explicitly, but it’s a short step from the report’s actual findings. According to Pew, nearly 1/3 of news consumers have abandoned a news outlet, citing less information and reduced quality. JURIST is on the opposite tack: we’ve grown our audience because our readers know that they can count on JURIST to deliver high-quality, documented, reasoned, and civil coverage of the world’s pressing legal issues. We’re able to deliver on our promise to document law and empower people because we know that our audience isn’t reading JURIST for blood sport, but to actually find out what’s going on in the world.

Pew also found that “the majority of people surveyed early this year had heard little or nothing about the financial problems besetting news organizations,” with 36% of respondents saying that they had no idea at all that media outlets were generally under financial strain. Plainly, our readers can’t say the same thing; I’ve been interrupting the regularly-scheduled programming for the last few weeks to ask for your financial contributions. You know that we need your support.

Summarizing their findings, Pew said that “[t]he job of news organizations is to come to terms with the fact that, as they search for economic stability, their financial future may well hinge on their ability to provide high quality reporting.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m confident that, if we continue to provide high-quality, timely, thorough, and thoughtful coverage, our audience will help us in our search for economic stability.

JURIST needs your financial support to deliver the high-quality work you’ve come to expect of us. You can show your support through a single donation, or with monthly contributions.

So: how about it?