Hey friends on the Internet, Giordano here from The Juice Media
I hope you enjoyed another year of Honest Government Ads
It's been a really productive year for us
Mainly coz our Government has been so shit that they've given us plenty of stuff to talk about
And our audience has grown, which is awesome
Heck even our Government has been watching our Honest Government Ads
I know coz recenty we received another email from them complaining about our use of their logo
Thanks for watching!
First up, a huge TYSM to all the Patrons and supporters who've kept us going this year
It's thanks to you mob that I've been able to work…
that's my phone
That I've been able to work fulltime on researching, writing, directing and editing Honest Government Ads
I know it's not always easy to part with money each month to support any project
so I never take it for granted
Your financial support has also made it possible to pay our brilliant actors
they're a bunch of legends and I hope you'll join me in giving them props
for their awesome work this year
A special shout out to Zoë, who appeared in 8 consecutive Honest Government Ads this year
including some viral gems like Visit the NT and Visit Timor-Leste
(?)
Serviced by daily shipments from Cairns…
Ah…
Hang on this is Zoë's warm up
Zoë getting pumped up for the next take
Phwoa!
Interpretative-dance Zoë
LOL: Take 6
(Laughter)
That's it, great, good take
(More laughter)
This is gold, I'm gonna use some of this
(LOL)
And last but not least a huge thanks to the broader Juice Media team
who give me feedback on my scripts and help me to refine them. Thanks, you legends
Anywho - this year since I'm seldom in front of the camera these days I thought I'd take
this opportunity to share with you some of the story behind the Honest Government Ads
It's been 2 years since we made the very first Honest Government Ad: Visit Australia
There was no big announcement or manifesto
Lucy and I just made it. You loved it. And for the next two years we made more
But after two years I think it's probably a good time to take stock and reflect on
what it is that we're doing here
And who we are
I dunno, maybe some of you think we're some big, sponsored project funded by
George Soros... or the Greens...
(X-Files Music)
When in fact we're a bonafide home-made, family project
We literally film every episode in our living room
And I write and edit them here, under the same suburban Melbourne roof
But if we go back in time a few years, things were quite different
I was working at the University after I completed a PhD in History
I published a history book about Time explaining why the whole world is ruled by the clock
TL/DR: European colonialism
And then another book about the most epic yet little-known chapter of Australian history
Seriously read it
But something I started to find troubling is that all my work was being published in
places not very easily accessible to most people - like books and academic journals
It's troubling when you realise that most academic research is already funded by tax-payers
meaning you and me - through the ARC
In a sense, we are all Patrons of academics
And yet, when they publish their work in a journal - unless you're a staff or student in a University
- you have to pay to read it
Which is essentially paying for it twice
It's as if all you Patrons who support us had to pay again to watch our videos when they come out
The turning point for me came in 2013 with the death of Aaron Swartz
activist, programmer and prodigy
co-creator of many awesome platforms
Aaron wanted to make a statement about the need for free and open access to knowledge
So he hacked into MIT's mainframe and downloaded the entire JSTOR databse
For that, he was hounded and prosecuted by the FBI - until eventually
he tragically ook his own life
Aaron made us all realise how heavily policed knowledge and academic work is
And thanks to his legacy things are slowly changing
But I didn't want to wait decades for my work to be freely available to everyone
So I left and started publishing content in the obvious place
The big question of course was: would people value my work enough to support me in doing it?
There was only one way to find out
So I gave myself one year to create a new series
And if by the end of that year I wasn't at least covering my expenses - then...
My goal was to somehow help people better understand what is going on in our world
There's a real hunger for honesty and truth right now
basic elements required for democracy and good governments to flourish
Rupert Murdoch and others like him know this very well, which is why they work so hard to muddy the waters
around crucial issues like climate change, the economy and the growing gap between rich and poor
Which is fueling a growing tide of misinformation that keeps getting fuckwits like this elected
So I thought gee, wouldn't it be useful if I could help counter this
by translating and decoding our Government's policies, making them say what they really meant?
And that was the birth of Honest Government Ads
Thanks to you, by the time that one-year deadline was up, we managed to became self-sufficient
and cover all our basic production costs
So I gave myself another challenge: by the end of the second year, we had to be earning
enough to make a decent wage so that we could support a family and make ends meet
Lucy and I had a baby last year - Luca - a frikkin cutie
So if we were to keep going, we had to make this work financially
Which is why I've given this project everything I have
In fact, I've never worked this hard, and yet its the most enjoyable work I've ever done
I figured: if we do good work, remain independent
and play a useful role in providing information and analysis that is of public interest
and if we can mix it with some decent comedy so that it cuts through the bullshit -
people might support it
And people did
You rewarded us for embarking on this crazy family adventure
by doubling the number of Patrons who support us each month
which has given us the confidence to keep making Honest Government Ads
And I hope that going forward more people will continue to support us - because although
we're on the right track, we still operate on a tiny budget and we have so much more to do
So if you like what we do
if you feel we provide a public service by helping people to understand what's going on
if you value how we consistently avoid going for the low-hanging fruit
and instead focus topics ignored by most other media
such as the anti-encryption bill that just passed
(nice one, Bill)
Then please consider supporting The Juice Media at the link below
We've introduced some cool rewards on Patreon:
For the price of a cup of coffee each month
you'll receive audio previews of all our new videos before we publish them
$5 USD will get you into the Advisory Board, which helps us decide topics of future videos
$10 USD will get you a hug, which is honestly our favourite reward tier because its comes from
people who just want us to get the work done
$20 gets you all the above plus a Sticker Pack $50 a Department of Genuine Satire t-shirt
And the top reward is for Patrons who pledge $100/month: a Producer Credit
at the end of each of our Honest Government Ads
Patreon is the best way to support us because it gives us a predictable monthly income
But if you're not a Patreon kinda person, you can also send us a one-off tip on PayPal
whenever you're stoked with one of our videos
And if you don't dig PayPal either, on our website you'll find other options
to support us with cryptocurrencies
And lastly, if you're not in a financial position to support - no stress
As I said, my aim was always to be able to publish content available freely for everyone
So even if you can't afford to be a Patron, our content will always be available to you for free
Thanks for listening to my long-arsed video
I want to wish all of you and your families a happy, healthy and, above all, meaningful new year
Giordano signing off, and we'll catch you soon for more genuine satire
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