South Seattle Emerald to mark seventh anniversary and readership explosion with livestream event and fundraiser
Marking its seventh anniversary and exponential growth in readership, South Seattle Emerald today launched a spring fundraising drive that includes a livestream celebration of the South Seattle community at the heart of its work.
“We launched the Emerald seven years ago to tell the stories that weren’t being told,” said founder and publisher Marcus Harrison Green. “The media’s job is to speak truth to power—but it’s also to speak to people who’ve been told they’re powerless, and make sure their stories are reported with insight, rigor and understanding. Community stories matter.”
Engagement with the Emerald has exploded in the past two years:
Article views jumped 545 percent, from 31,000 per month in 2019 to 200,000 in 2020;
The site had 2.4 million page views in the past year;
Social media followers more than doubled across platforms; and
Email newsletter subscribers are up 63 percent.
“The Emerald has changed the way people look at South Seattle, and in many ways it has changed even how we who live here see ourselves,” said Reagan Jackson, author of the forthcoming Still Here: A South End Mixtape from an Unexpected Journalist. “Marcus has created a platform to chronicle the many beautiful, rich, complicated stories that exist here.”
Recent coverage by Emerald reporter Carolyn Bick detailed discrepancies in the case of the police shooting of Tommy Le long after other media had left the story. Her reporting sparked calls by King County Executive Dow Constantine and other leaders for the resignation of King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht.
The Emerald’s spring fundraising drive runs through May 5 and has a goal of $50,000 to support community journalism.
On April 29 at 7 p.m., the livestreamed “Emerald Anniversary Show Presented by Converge Media” will feature conversations, insights, stories and entertainment to celebrate the Emerald and the community it serves.
Co-hosted by Green and Bridgette Hempstead, Emerald board member and founder and CEO of Cierra Sisters, the event will also feature best-selling author (and Emerald board member), Ijeoma Oluo, and Converge Media Founder and CEO Omari Salisbury.
“The Emerald Anniversary Show” will stream on the site’s campaign page as well as on Facebook and YouTube.
“There’s no greater human power than the stories we tell about ourselves and others,” Green said. “The resonate. That’s why, even as the general media landscape is shifting because of closures and consolidation, outlets that speak authentically to their communities are growing.”
