(Washington City Paper) — When Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Washington City Paper in February, readers rushed to show their support — and the newspaper gave them an outlet. The City Paper set up a fund for reader donations meant to offset the litigation fees, collecting 600 donations totaling $28,000 in the first three weeks.  But since the initial influx, the fund has received only 190 donations totaling just over $3,000. With donations slowing to a trickle even as the lawsuit drags on, the paper is left with a fund that matters more for what it has come to represent: tangible evidence of reader loyalty at a time when many newspapers are fighting steep readership declines.

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