Obstructed View?

Compass Vermont turns one on Substack on May 15. We're again going to ask for your support, and here's why.

When you buy a ticket marked “Obstructed View,” at least you know.

A pillar blocks the left side of the stage. A beam cuts across the field. You can see most of it — but not all of it. And crucially, you knew that going in.

The best seats in Vermont news don’t come with that label. But a lot of them should.

Politically filtered. Institutionally cautious. Dependent on the sources they’re supposed to scrutinize. Asking the questions their audiences want to hear rather than the ones their audiences need answered.

Nobody is putting “Partially Obstructed View” on the ticket. But the obstruction is there.

Compass Vermont is not a perfect front-row seat. No publication is.

But we will always tell you exactly what we can and can’t see from where we’re sitting. We’ll show you the numbers instead of telling you what they mean. We’ll ask the question your neighbor asked at the general store that nobody in Montpelier ever answers.

And we’ll never mistake our own view of the stage for the whole performance.

Compass Vermont turns one on May 15. Ten days left to lock in $50 a year before the price goes up.

If you’ve been reading Compass and trusting what you see — this is how you say so. Until May 15, you can get a paid subscription for $5.00 a month or $50.00 annually. After, the monthly sub will go to $7.00 or $75.00.

Can’t subscribe right now? Forward this to one Vermonter who deserves a clearer view.

Paid or not, every one of you makes this work worth doing.

Tom Davis — Compass Vermont