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It’s our birthday. We’re 5!

The idea of The Australian Independent Media Network sprung up in response partly to this quote from the Under the radar article on the now-retired Café Whispers blog:

Isn’t it a great pity that excellent articles are being written in the Fifth Estate that slip under the radar into oblivion? Isn’t it also a great pity that this will continue to happen? Isn’t it also a greater pity that such hard-hitting, truth-telling articles will forever be drowned out by our hysterical, manipulative, dishonest, sensationalist, gutless, unfair and unbalanced media in this country?

Has there ever been a greater need for the Fifth Estate to join forces? If we don’t, a lot of what we write will continue to slip under the radar.

The need for a representative body for Australian bloggers had been tossed around for a couple of years but it had never really taken hold. Tim Dunlop’s article in The Drum in October 2012 titled Media pass: citizen journalists need an industry body emphasised the need for something to be done. The introduction to the article read:

Australian bloggers have a lot to offer in public debate, but an independent body is needed to establish the credibility and increase the exposure of our citizen journalists.

So in late December 2012 a handful of bloggers; Michael and Carol Taylor, Barry Tucker, Kevin Rennie and Alex Schlotzer took hold of the idea and on the 2nd January, 2013 The AIMN was born.

We were soon joined by two other bloggers; Victoria Rollison and John Kelly. Kaye Lee and John Lord followed shortly after (both who started out as commenters on The AIMN) and today The AIMN represents over 30 independent sites.

And today we are 5 years old.

In those five years we have:

  • published over 6,040 articles (including hundreds submitted by our readers)
  • had over 15.5 million views
  • attracted over 190,000 comments from over 8,000 people.

On top of that we have almost:

  • 5,400 subscribers
  • 18,000 Facebook followers

Our record for the most visitors in a day is just under 220,000 and our most widely-read article is Victoria Rollison’s An Open Letter to Frances Abbott which attracted over 430,000 readers and over 680 comments. (It was also shared on Facebook by 75,000 people or Facebook groups).

Recently we have outgrown our server… again.

But the biggest story has been those thousands of people who have helped make us the success we are today.

It might be our birthday … but it is the support from all of you that we should be celebrating. It’s been a great five years and you’ve all been a part of it. Without you, what would we be?

Before our 6th birthday we could well be going to the polls again, making everybody here more important than ever as we attempt to rid ourselves of the most lacklustre and ineffectual government in living memory.

Are you with us?

 

Like what we do at The AIMN?

You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.

Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!

Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.

You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969

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36 comments

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  1. George Swalwell

    Happy Birthday to AIM Network and long may you continue to let
    us have the truth instead of the MSM drivel.

    Particularly I must praise Kaye Lee for her incisive, uncompromising
    attitude to politicians trying to confuse, shield or peddle lies.
    Her command of devastating figures to explode foolish statements is
    a continuing delight.

  2. Miriam English

    YEAH! A rousing call! Let’s do this. Help AIMN spread the word.

    And happy birthday too. 😀

  3. Andreas Bimba

    Well done team AIMN. A truly significant accomplishment and this white anting of the right wing corporate and wealthy oligarchy’s control over our governments, media, economy, democracy, academia and the bureaucracy, from all sides by many like minded people and organisations is slowly working not just here but globally.

    The right is its own worst enemy by being so blatantly awful which acts to nullify most of their obvious strengths like huge financial resources, professional expertise and domination of the mass media.

    Corbyn and Sanders are two standouts for a competent progressive path but the international Green movement is also doing its bit. The much abused trade union movement is still fighting. Europeans are also getting pissed off with the establishment from both the centre right and centre left that deliver only more of the same neoliberal poison and high unemployment and wealth inequity.

    Even the word neoliberalism became a well known dirty word during the five years of AIMN and this site I think was one of the main players in Australia.

    Most of the contentedly and willfully ignorant will not seek out or read articles on AIMN but discontent is definitely prevalent.

    Unfortunately the ALP still remains steadfastly neo-liberal on the important issue of federal government fiscal net spending sufficient to return to full employment, to adequately fund government services and a desperately needed Green New Deal to escape the existential threat from global warming.

  4. Möbius Ecko

    Happy birthday AIMN, and a hope for many more.

  5. Keith

    Happy birthday and thank you to the AIMN team.

  6. John Kelly

    It has been a great journey and am proud to have been a part of it.

  7. Joseph Carli

    I’m sticking with you 100%…like a bad case of the piles…onward and upward!

  8. Kaye Lee

    When we started all this, Julia Gillard was PM and I was certain that she would lead us into the next election and out campaign that fool Abbott. I was devastated when the Labor party committed suicide by failing to back her and her government’s achievements. It was them who gave us Abbott because, like everything else he has been gifted through his life, he sure as hell did nothing to earn the job. It’s been trench warfare ever since.

  9. townsvilleblog

    Happy 5th Birthday to AIM, you have some great authors now, and I rarely disagree with comments made, I get to articles late, so every good point is usually made by the time I arrive, but you have some great commentators as well, I learn a lot.

  10. townsvilleblog

    Oh how I wish the talented Ms Gillard was still PM!

  11. townsvilleblog

    The foolish machinations of the right wing faction of the ALP….Shorten, Howes and Co….

  12. Terry2

    Congratulations to AIMN for creating an important platform for Australian discourse which whilst it may be labelled as Left of Centre it is mainly because the center has been shifted to the Right.

  13. paul walter

    Happy birthday, AIM. Its getting harder to find outlets worthy of the name. You folk do the work of Trojans.

  14. corvus boreus

    Happy birthday AIMN, with congratulations and many thanks to all who organise and contribute to this invaluable resource.

    Here’s a cheery thought; when the AIMN first launched, concentrations of atmospheric co2 were under 400ppm, a level that was first passed by a sample taken at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, on 9/5/2013.
    5 years on, the readings of co2 taken at Mauna Loa now fluctuate in the low 400s, and a reading of over 410ppm was first registered on 4/4/2017.
    https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/full.html
    Meanwhile, after a 3 year hiatus in growth, it looks like we managed to top all previous efforts in annual co2 emissions.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-11-13/record-global-co2-emissions-predicted-for-2017/9144838

  15. LOVO

    Happy birthday Aimn 🎂

  16. eefteeuu

    Happy birthday to AIMN, the best site on the net. Happy new year to all.

  17. Tresca Cullen

    Felicitations AIMN! keep up the excellent work, I don’t know what i’d do without you and my Saturday Paper xtc

  18. Keitha Granville

    And many more years to come .
    Whilst many wish that Julia was still PM, we must make cure the Labor team gets our backing. No point spitting at Bill, when Malcolm is the alternative PM.

    We can do it, stick together.

  19. Freethinker

    Congratulations and my best wishes for the future.
    We, the readers and contributors have also to put all our efforts to keep the dream alive.

  20. Miriam English

    Keitha, opt for the lesser evil? I really dislike that argument. Voting for the lesser evil is still voting for evil.

    I’m not saying don’t do it (though I’ll be voting for Greens), it’s just it always seems a terrible argument to make. If all the people who felt that way voted Greens instead, we might actually have a moral government. It would also shock Labor sufficiently that they would dump the evil in their ranks and become more true to their supposed aims. I know it won’t happen — people are creatures of habit… I’m just imagining “what if…”

  21. Bob Kavanagh

    Happy birthday, you are a breath of fresh air in this current turgid atmosphere.

  22. Richard.grant@optusnet.com.au

    Yes happy birthday “team” keep up the good work.

  23. richard

    Great work team

  24. Lynette Henderson

    Happy Birthday Aimn and all of the wonderful contributors. First thing I look for on Facebook. After reading love to pass it on to friends. We get to see truth and we can read any references quoted. Hope we are around for a long time.

  25. Glenn Barry

    Wonderful work and so much wisdom for one so young – congratulations

  26. David Stakes

    Its a pity that not more people access AIMN, For the majority this is all under the Radar. Preferring to be brainwashed by the MSM.

  27. didemcdee

    5 years and purely by chance do I come across this great site just today. How does this happen. I have never heard of this site before. Why are you not up there with crickey and matilda. Having just read some articles here, it is refreshing to come across a community so like myself. 2018 is looking up now and I will be coming back often. Can comment also which, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. I will recommend this to my friends.
    How can I put up the smiley face like the one given to me here.

  28. Jack Russell

    Three things:

    1). Congratulations AIMN – writers and commenters! You are my top go-to of any news site.

    2). As I’ve just discovered, AIMN was launched on my birthday, and

    3). My real and uncommon name has been mentioned 4 times now so I must confess – Jack’s my dog.

    And, for the moment, I’m speechlessly contemplating coincidence …

  29. roma guerin

    Congratulations AIMN. I only discovered you about a year ago. I have so appreciated that you email to me because I am far more likely to read you. Although I do send your articles on to FB, I imagine I am not alone in missing a lot of FB because of the speed things turn up there. I am a stats fan so I love Kaye Lee’s work. Thank you John Lord for always speaking your (my) mind. Thanks Rossleigh for puncturing the pompous and giving us something to smile at, sorely needed. And thanks to all the writers, you keep me grounded and stop me from sinking into a pit of despond. Please keep up your invaluable articles, and I will look forward to your 10th birthday. Happy New Year all.

  30. writtenword09

    Congratulations and a Happy Birthday to the AIMN. I wish there was a way to upload an image to say Happy Birthday.

  31. diannaart

    Thanks for the idea, writtenword09 – it’s just a little cut ‘n paste or,, pointy brackets img jpeg /img

    🙂

    Ever onwards, AIMN…

  32. Miriam English

    writtenword, just paste the address of an image from the internet. If the picture is on your own computer, upload it to the net (to your website, for example) and paste that address of the picture.

    How do you find the address of a picture on the net? If you right-click the image, a menu should pop up containing, among other choices, an item letting you copy the address (or URL) of the image. Each web browser uses a different description of that capability. On some you might have to display the image’s properties, and there you’ll find its address.

    Sometimes you can tell the web browser to display just the image (often from the right-click menu). If you do that then the address of the picture will be in the address bar near the top of your web browser.

  33. Roswell

    Happy birthday, AIMN. I can’t believe it’s only been five years. It seems like ten!

    I can vouch that everybody associated with The AIMN puts in a big effort, and you are all to be congratulated for your dedication and commitment.

  34. Ricardo29

    Thanks AIMN and birthday congrats. I love the politics of this site and would single out Kaye Lee for the way she constantly nails an issue. I also love David’s take on things. Not that other contributors don’t get my attention but these two are a particular must read. Like others I wish this site was more widely seen. I wonder if a ‘mail’ icon could be added to the cluster below so I/we can o pass individual offerings. Oh, and if they are not already on the mailing list, could you add some Labor frontbenchers?

  35. John Lord

    Pretty impressive mod I write for.

  36. 2353NM

    Hippy Bathday AIMN – and may there be may more. It’s an honour to have made a small contribution to the collective wisdom.

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