I’m tired.

I’m tired because it’s been a year of working long hours to keep this nonprofit website alive, to make sure this amazing staff stays intact and to put us on the road to sustainability.

I’m tired because the world of politics I eagerly began to cover nearly four decades ago has become a seemingly bottomless sewer of vitriol and venom, a toxic cauldron of polarization, corruption and partisanship replete with malefactors, grifters, nincompoops, sleazeballs, spinmeisters and sycophants who want to distort the truth through fakery, obfuscation and fabulism.

I’m tired because I have been at this for so long that I wonder if I can still stoke the fires of passion for this job, wonder if I still possess the desire to engage in the hurly burly or prefer to escape into oblivion.

I’m tired, but I ain’t going to sleep just yet.

I have never believed more strongly in the power of journalism and especially the promise of nonprofit journalism to be part of the solution, if not the solution. It’s so easy to log on to what was formerly Twitter and say X marks the spot where hope goes to die, where partisans and bots thrive and discourse withers. But that is not only not real life, it’s not representative of what I see every day when I look at The Indy.

Early next year, we will celebrate our ninth anniversary. As I have said many times before, this has been the best thing I have ever done and it has the least to do with me. It has been an exhilarating and terrifying roller coaster, but so rewarding because of the incredible people I have had the fortune to work alongside and because of their dedication to the culture we have built.

I can’t thank my staff enough for their tireless efforts and superb journalism as we have built a brand as the only statewide news organization doing in-depth, unbiased reporting. (As ever, I couldn’t care less what the trolls and hyperpartisans say; the work speaks for itself.)

Don’t misunderstand: Other Nevada outlets are doing good work, and when they do, we credit them.

But I am most gratified to be part of a constellation of nonprofit journalistic outlets in this country that, against all odds and prediction of a Fourth Estate supernova, are shining with journalism that is humbling and awe-inspiring.

I have been so lucky to meet visionary newsroom leaders such as Christopher Baxter at Spotlight PA, Bob Moore at El Paso Matters and Mary Margaret White at Mississippi Today and so, so many others. The Indy would not be where it is without the pioneer of this form of journalism: Evan Smith, who started The Texas Tribune and has been a trusted adviser and valued friend.

These are remarkable people — I wish I could name them all! — who believe in the noble purpose of journalism and lead organizations trying to be oases amid a disturbing proliferation of news deserts. They care about holding power to account, explaining a complicated and chaotic world and giving people the truth at a time when journalists are derided as “f—e news” (I hate the phrase with a passion) and under constant threat of verbal, legal and, yes, physical abuse.

Journalism is not dying. It is thriving, thanks to organizations led by people who still care about the core mission and who hire people who are willing to carry it out. I am invigorated by these outlets across the country, but I am mostly given sustenance by The Indy staff, from the editors to the reporters to the revenue team. They keep me going every day despite how frustrating and exhausting this can be.

I am also so thankful for the philanthropy that has sprung up to help journalism survive despite all the external pressures. Along with local foundations and donors, The American Journalism Project, Arnold Ventures and Emerson Collective have been an essential part of our success and the success of many other outlets. I don’t know what we — meaning nonprofit journalists — would do without them.

I am also eternally grateful for the thousands of donors, large and small, who have given to The Indy over the years. I never take it for granted, and as much as I love our major donors, I smile most when I see someone giving a recurring gift of $5 or $10 a month. That’s how we get sustainable.

(By the way, in the tradition of ABC, I hope you will consider an end-of-the-year donation if you appreciate our work.)

Somehow, after all of these years, many of them spent covering politics, I remain optimistic despite all of the ominous signs. And thanks to my staff, many of them half or closer to a third of my age, I remain energized for the future.

So yes, I’m tired. But I will sleep, as the great Warren Zevon sang, when I’m dead.

Onward to 2026 and beyond!

Jon Ralston is the CEO of The Nevada Independent.