Greater Bostonians, you deserve this much content every week—not only on special occasions.

Dear Reader,

We are not retreating into hibernation. DigBoston and the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism will march into 2021 and through whatever nightmares next year has in store.

My main purpose with this column is for you, the reader, to gain an explicit understanding of what it took to be able to write that last paragraph, and for those who give a damn about independent reporting in Mass to understand what it takes for us to crank out issues of DigBoston like the one you are holding.

We are at nearly 50 pages this week. The paper’s full of original reporting, from short takes to long form and from hard news to film and art, the kinds of articles you really only get from us around these parts of late. And that is only what we fit in the issue; head to digboston.com and you will also find our five-part series on cannabis delivery plus all sorts of year-end lists and more. 

Greater Bostonians, you deserve this much content every week—not only on special occasions.

Instead of hibernating, we will be right back to work after the holidays so that we can return with a new member edition on Jan. 7 and be back in boxes with a fresh street edition the following week. We are able to do this thanks to our incredible reporters, many of whom have continued working under difficult circumstances despite pandemic duress, much of which is inexorably linked to housing insecurity and trauma related to the struggles they are covering for us.

It has been tough for everyone. I’m wrapping this column at 3:30 in the morning on a Friday before waking up early to drive into Cambridge. There, along with colleagues and various Dig contributors, friends, readers, and subscribers who will drop by, I’ll stand, appropriately covered at a distance from people passing by our “pop-up newsstand” at the winter market behind Central Square. It’s supposed to be cold and rainy, still I will post up gladly, exhausted behind my mask but grateful for the chance to tell people that the media is fucked. And that we need them. That we need you. In case you missed me, here’s what you would have heard if you showed up:

Do you want to live in a news desert? Or a news garden? Do you want politicians who do whatever they feel like doing? Or who cower at the thought of one of our journalists reporting about their shenanigans? Do you want to know what’s happening around your region? From music, to the arts, to bars and restaurants? Or do you want to be in the dark? Because if light and transparency are your preference, then you have no choice in the matter. Become a DigBoston subscriber (trypico.com/DigBoston), and/or donate to our nonprofit at givetobinj.org.

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF