The Chaser Announce Return To Print Media With Crowdfunding Campaign

It seems that not a week goes by these days without another newspaper or magazine finding it can struggle on no longer against the indifferent entitlement of the blithe and often quite mean general reading audience.

That's what makes it such a pleasant surprise to hear that the crew at The Chaser are turning up their noses at the idea that print media is dead by announcing their plan to return to the medium with a brand new edition of The Chaser Quarterly — if you're willing to help them pay for it, that is.

Launching their campaign using crowdfunding platform Pozible, The Chaser paid homage to their time as budding media magnates, when The Chaser was a fortnightly newspaper, in a time before they were "forced into the indignity of hosting popular television shows just to make ends meet".

"Sixteen years after The Chaser started in print, and nearly five years after we last updated our website, The Chaser has decided to return to its roots, in the form of The Chaser Quarterly," the group's campaign reads, going on to say that the new edition "addresses the key problem of our time: namely — there is not enough content in this world".

"Using a unique patent-pending Content Generation System ('writing'), our highly trained Chaser Content Specialists ('writers') will use bleeding-edge, state-of-the-art technology ('computers') to create long-form graphical internet essays ('memes'), tailor-made for a world bereft of content".

Don't let the meme reference fool you, though; The Chaser will definitely be putting this thing out on paper, with an initial print run of 6000 copies expected — "B5 size, 96 pages, on nice uncoated matte stock (we will attempt to steal the exact stock specs from Frankie magazine)".

Advertisers are encouraged, although you'll have to adhere to The Chaser's guidelines for such material, while one of the fancier rewards ($500) offers the chance to have your idea appear in the final edition as an article.

The 2015 Chaser Quarterly will boast contributions from "many" of the group's originals, including David Stewart, Shane Cubis, Andrew Hansen, Chris Taylor, Craig Reucassel, Fiona Katauskas, Andrew Weldon, Oliver Watts, Johanna Featherstone and Gregor Stronach, in addition to work from newly added scribes such as David Hunt (author of the excellent Girt), James Jericho (of The Shovel), Theatresports' Stewart McCure, and Nik & Kristian Barron, who The Chaser describe as being memorable for "nothing notable". Rough.

You can read The Chaser's full description of their plans and dreams at their Pozible page.

Rewards vary from a guaranteed copy or signed copy of the first edition and in-print kudos to coughing up $10k for a nickname and getting to tag along with Charles Firth on a trip to the United States to cover the Republican primaries for a Firth In The USA special. 

At the time of writing, the project has accrued just over $5,550 of its ultimate goal of $50,000.

(via Mumbrella)