As the global pandemic deepens, it’s not just the virus itself that threatens human life. The corruption, cronyism, and incompetence of those in power is adding fuel to the fire.
The public deserves to know more than just case counts and death tolls, which is why I’m so proud of The Intercept’s reporters who are breaking stories on corporate profiteering and political jockeying that undermine public health.
The good news is that these stories are breaking through and garnering widespread attention. But even as traffic to our stories has skyrocketed, financial support from readers has actually declined over the last month.
For obvious reasons, many of our readers can’t afford to give right now. Even under normal circumstances, fewer than 1 percent donate to make our work possible. And that’s OK – we’re committed to making our journalism freely available to everyone.
But if you can afford to be generous, The Intercept needs your support.
Here’s just one example of our reporting from the last week:
When the Food and Drug Administration quietly gave a pharmaceutical company a special monopoly to exclusively profit from a drug that might treat Covid-19, most media outlets didn’t notice.
But then Intercept reporters connected the dots, revealing that a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force had previously worked as a lobbyist for the company, Gilead Sciences.
Within hours, Gilead backed off and asked the FDA to rescind the absurd “orphan” status for the drug, a label reserved for medications that treat rare diseases.
As the coronavirus crisis deepens, The Intercept is breaking stories that shine a spotlight on the self-interested power brokers who are exploiting the pandemic for their own profit.
Not everyone can afford to give right now. But if you can, The Intercept needs your support.
