What is Steady?
Steady is of course a word, a great, diverse word, that happened to be one of my father’s favorite. It is a word that has centered me, bringing a sense of calm and perspective throughout my life. That’s why when I set about creating a new endeavor to facilitate conversation about this nation, and broader world, calling it Steady seemed like an obvious choice. Steady is an aspirational goal for what I want this to be, a place for contemplation, empathy, learning, and yes a little humor when warranted.
Now what Steady will end up being is a different question. It will start as a series of letters from me, Dan Rather, to you. In addition to a fair number of words, I expect there will be video and audio content as well, at some point. I will have my longtime collaborators and editors, coauthor Elliot Kirschner and producer Alex Van Amson, by my side. We have big dreams.
Other contributors?
Innovative features?
Follow-on projects?
Hopefully yes to at least some of that, or yes to directions we can’t even begin to predict. If we remain true to our founding instincts, it will evolve.
As to what the content will be, we expect it to broad and diverse:
Will a lot of what is covered be on the news? Well, duh (as the kids say). I love the news.
Will there be an occasional flight of fancy? What’s life without a few of those.
Sports, art, nature, (other Jeopardy topics)? I love all of those, so you can expect them to crop up at times.
The idea is that the world is a big, beautiful, complicated, sometimes tragic, often joyful place. And you will have access to my real-time thoughts as we walk through a tough, yet hopeful juncture of history.
Why subscribe?
Call me old fashioned, but I’m not a huge fan of algorithms dictating what people see. Yet in recent years social media became my primary means of communicating with the world. And that meant, whether by tweet or post, a bunch of opaque computer code kicked in to determine what reached you. Subscribing to Steady cuts through that digital Gordian Knot. If you add yourself to the list here…
…you will get what we publish directly. This will also give you access to the website.
And Paid Subscriptions?
I confess, this is the most complicated part of the new endeavor. I understand that times are tough for many people, and yet I want to create something that is sustainable, supports the people who work with me, and allows for re-investment in both Steady and other ventures. I will keep a lot of content without a paywall. Some content will be for those with paid subscriptions. I don’t yet know what the balance will be between the two. More support will allow for more content, and consequently more free content. So if you can support us, please think of doing so.
On a fundamental level, I also want to push back on the idea that content should be “free.” A world in which people don’t think twice about paying 5 bucks for a cup of coffee but balk at subscribing to a local newspaper is a world in trouble. And I certainly have problems with posting on sites like Facebook which makes advertising money on the back of content creators, which has been my situation for several years. So for those who have enjoyed my posts there, you can also consider these paid subscriptions a form of retroactive support.
“Play Ball”
Ok, now that we have that behind us, let’s do this. I’m excited and I’m all in.
