History

THRU Media was developed as a Portland Oregon-based online magazine. We published hundreds of articles, original video documentaries, creative writing, art works, and a podcast. The project discontinued after three years in 2018. Most of the content is archived and available at magazine.thru.media.

Among the two dozen contributors to the magazine, there were several core creators: Sean Ongley and Kathleen Dolan drove the project, while Estevan Munoz, Ingrid Horton, Jen Scholten, and Forrest Brennan provided substantial content contributions in supportive roles early in rollout of the publication.

Nobody had the heart to turn this into a clickbait site, or spend hours upon hours seeking business sponsors, and with only one commissioned video project beyond one Indiegogo campaign, the operation ran out of steam. And our lives changed until it became untenable to continue the magazine.

In 2022, when all were asked if they would be open to seeing Thru Media relaunched with a different vision, Forrest, Estevan, and Ingrid were open to it.

Estevan has relocated to Brooklyn where he is working with Bad Taste Video as an actor, and on his own as a writer, music producer and performer.

Forrest remains in Portland where he launched a production company called Hungry Mantis, specializing in 360 video.

Ingrid continues to work as a graphic designer in Melbourne, Australia.

Sean is again leading the effort to build a media brand called THRU. This time without the kind of pressure that is involved with a magazine.

Value Driven Media

Is it possible for content to be delivered publicly without barriers, in a profitable way, without corporate sponsors or paywalls, pop-up ads, and data harvesting,? Can everyday people be executive producers?

Owning the content and its method of delivery is only possible with DIY operations and decentralized platforms.

THRU can be an agent of decentralized business by building itself from the ground up using open publication platforms, while crowdsourcing production projects, giving everyone an opportunity to be a legitimate producer.

This also proves that content is created in a merit-based way. Ideas that don’t really garner much interest, or content that isn’t executed well, won’t be rewarded equally.

The dream is a cooperative, creative-owned production company.

This is about equality of access, not outcome, and opportunities for creatives to build equity in the business based on merit. Exactly how to apply the ethics of value-driven content is to be explored.