Alms for the Press?
Jack Shafer in Slate makes the case against non-profit foundations becoming the financial base for newspapers.
“In my experience, foundations that fund journalism directly—as opposed to journalistic education—are more interested in promoting what they consider “social justice” than promoting journalism. For them, a newspaper is just a means to an end.”
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2 Comments, Comment or Ping
crackerbelly
I have been thinking about this from a different angle. Rather than foundations, what if there were a site like kiva.org but for Journalism? Writers could announce a project and invite investors. Based on the reputation of the writer, it might even be something non-descript…just a request for funding. If it got traction, the author could pay his contributors back once a piece was syndicated. But repayment aside, I think people would contribute to journalism that covered topics of importance or interest to them.
Mark
Feb 4th, 2009
ross
Mark – there is! Check out http://www.spot.us/. It’s a small pilot project in the Bay area. They call themselves a journalism marketplace connecting audience needs with reporter skills. They add value by providing professional editing and they distribute the finished stories to anyone who wants them. My interview with the guy doing it is here http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=15868.
Feb 7th, 2009
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