Crowdfunded journalism

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Crowdfunded journalism is journalism that is financially sourced by the collection of donations from the general public. Typically, journalists rely on micropayments from ordinary people to finance their reporting. [1] Crowdfunding is typically related to crowdsourcing, because the source of funding is often from a larger third-party group or crowd. The audience can support journalism projects by donating sums of money, or other resources, through popular crowdfunding websites such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter. [2] In the early 2010s, there were a variety of crowdfunding sites that only supported journalistic endeavors, but many are since retired due to conflicts of interest, such as Spot.us. [3]

Contents

Typically, crowdfunded journalism has four different types of donation systems: "Single individuals, Small groups of unaffiliated individuals, Media outlets or organizations, and Public or private institutions such as universities." [4]

Crowd-funded Journalism extends across all seven continents, with 34% of all projects "foreign-based." Crowd-funded Journalism throughout the World.png
Crowd-funded Journalism extends across all seven continents, with 34% of all projects "foreign-based."

Characteristics

In the rapidly changing field of media, the financial pressures upon newspapers have led to the downsizing of newsroom staff nationwide, with local newsrooms especially hard hit. Journalists have faced challenges because of media concentration, ownership, and a technological shift towards news content from the Internet. That decrease has fueled the rise of crowdfunded journalism as a way for journalists to financially stabilize their careers outside of corporate media. [1] [2] Crowdfunded journalism also gives journalists opportunities to create content outside of the mainstream media scope. Crowdfunded journalism fundamentally reshapes what it means to be a news reader: Users can directly fund the stories they care about, and writers have a level of independence and freedom to choose specific topics or coverage of events, rather than being directed by a common company-affiliated newsroom. [1] [2]

Public engagement

Crowdfunding has been in existence since before the rise of the Web. The idea is that: "Through small donations from the crowd, large projects that no ordinary individual could fund on his or her own can be started." [1]

The increase of crowdfunded journalism has altered the way audiences participate and interact with media. Audiences have a more direct, personal connection to their writers and producers, while content producers can receive direct feedback on what is desired. There is also an increase in opportunities for "special projects" and "citizen journalism." Both amateur and professional journalists, with ideas and passions for their specific communities, share a collective of information that actively work as "sourcing." [2]

Crowdfunded journalism gives equal opportunity for the general public to participate with their journalistic interests. There are no specific requirements that journalists need to use crowdfunding, nor are there requirements for citizen journalists to utilize crowdfunding to fund blogs, websites, etc. [4]

Issues and controversies

Crowdfunded journalism gives more power to independent companies to make individual decisions based on their audience. This has raised concerns in the past from mainstream journalism outlets over an increased presence of content contradicting the mainstream media message, most notably the rise of misinformation on the internet. [5] Since the start of the pandemic, numerous crowdfunded media outlets began pushing misinformation and disinformation across various social media platforms. Mainstream media has been battling to curb this trend, but the growth of crowdfunded journalism has made the process increasingly difficult. [6]

Another issue surrounding crowdfunded journalism involves single-source articles. This process occurs when a writer makes or backs up arguments without using any other sources, disregarding all other facts, which can lead to the spread of misinformation. [6]

There can also be challenges when trying to meet objectivity expectations and avoid "conflicts of interest". [3] The closure of Spot.us, a platform that was used solely to crowdfund journalism, partially occurred because of these conflicts of interest. Readers of the journalism were also the ones supporting the work, and many writers felt pressured to cater to the needs of their paying audience. For many writers, this impeded their journalistic independence. [3]

The motivations of crowdfunded journalists also impeded sustained crowdfunded journalistic endeavors. Both writers and donors often considered the writing to be fun, and preferred "to leave that work to the 'professionals'." [7]

Crowdfunded journalism projects

Though Kickstarter is a U.S.-based website, it allows residents from 18 different countries to propose projects (16 countries in North America and Europe, plus Australia and New Zealand) – and, indeed, 16% of funded projects received their funds in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Nevertheless, 64% of the funded Kickstarter journalism proposals were for projects to be conducted within the borders of the United States, while 34% were to be conducted in foreign countries. Only a small percentage of proposals (2%) were for projects that explicitly were to be carried out in both the U.S. and one or more other countries.

The foreign-based projects touched all seven continents – at least 64 countries in all, from Tonga to Iraq and from Cuba to South Africa as well as the Palestinian territories. Beyond the U.S., the UK had the greatest number of projects at 53, followed by Canada at 22. Other countries had somewhere between one and seven projects. [4]

Another way to think about these funded projects is according to the format or structure of the journalism being produced. Researchers found a total of 14 different media formats represented in the journalism projects. The most common ones tend to be larger and longer enterprises "that would not be possible without the support of independent donors." Among this array of formats, magazine-related projects – including the launch of new full-fledged publications, the expansion of issue-based coverage by a news magazine, and standalone articles that the producers planned to pitch to existing magazines or journals – topped the list as the single most popular format, making up 20% of all funded projects in the Journalism category. [4] [6]

Examples of crowdfunded journalism

Related Research Articles

Journalistic objectivity is a considerable notion within the discussion of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity may refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities. First evolving as a practice in the 18th century, a number of critiques and alternatives to the notion have emerged since, fuelling ongoing and dynamic discourse surrounding the ideal of objectivity in journalism.

Independent media refers to any media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications, that is free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital journalism</span> Editorial content published via the Internet

Digital journalism, also known as netizen journalism or online journalism, is a contemporary form of journalism where editorial content is distributed via the Internet, as opposed to publishing via print or broadcast. What constitutes digital journalism is debated by scholars; however, the primary product of journalism, which is news and features on current affairs, is presented solely or in combination as text, audio, video, or some interactive forms like storytelling stories or newsgames, and disseminated through digital media technology.

Collaborative journalism is a growing practice in the field of journalism. One definition is "a cooperative arrangement between two or more news and information organizations, which aims to supplement each organization’s resources and maximize the impact of the content produced." It is practiced by both professional and amateur reporters. It is not to be confused with citizen journalism.

Fan-funded music is crowdfunding for music. Often, fan-funded music occurs in conjunction with direct-to-fan marketing. Fans of music have the option to donate and collectively raise money with the goal of jump-starting the career of a given musical artist. The fan-funding of music occurs primarily through web-based services using a business model for crowdfunding. Fans are typically given rewards based on their monetary contributions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kickstarter</span> US-based crowdfunding platform

Kickstarter, PBC is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of February 2023, Kickstarter has received US$7 billion in pledges from 21.7 million backers to fund 233,626 projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, board games, technology, publishing, and food-related projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiegogo</span> American crowdfunding website

Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows people to solicit funds for an idea, charity, or start-up business. Indiegogo charges a 5% fee on contributions. This charge is in addition to Stripe credit card processing charges of 3% + $0.30 per transaction. Fifteen million people visit the site each month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funding4Learning</span> Crowdfunding platform

Funding4Learning is a "human capital oriented" crowd funding platform for educational projects. Funding4Learning provides its users with fundraising tools for study, volunteering, as well as a diverse array of education related initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonprofit journalism</span> Journalism funded by philanthropy

Nonprofit journalism or philanthrojournalism is the practice of journalism funded largely by donations and foundations. The growth in this sector has been helped by funders seeing a need for public interest journalism like investigative reporting amidst the decline in revenue for for-profit journalism. Transparency and diversified funding streams have been put forward as best-practices for these types of organizations. Journalism done at a nonprofit organization should be evaluated just as critically as journalism from for-profit or other outlets.

Crowdfunding is a process in which individuals or groups pool money and other resources to fund projects initiated by other people or organizations "without standard financial intermediaries." Crowdfunded projects may include creative works, products, nonprofit organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, businesses, or donations for a specific purpose. Crowdfunding usually takes place via an online portal that handles the financial transactions involved and may also provide services such as media hosting, social networking, and facilitating contact with contributors. It has increased since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

Video game development has typically been funded by large publishing companies or are alternatively paid for mostly by the developers themselves as independent titles. Other funding may come from government incentives or from private funding.

Garnering funds in the form of donations has always been a major focus for university leaders. These donations are usually found in the form of large annual gifts by alumni and friends of universities, along with funding from government entities for public universities. More recently, universities have been taking steps to modernize their giving structure through the use of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is an online tool utilizing peer-to-peer relationships to help gain funds for different aspects of university culture.

De Correspondent is a Dutch news website based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was launched on 30 September 2013 after raising more than €1 million in a crowdfunding campaign in eight days. The website distinguishes itself by rejecting the daily news cycle and focusing on in-depth and chronological coverage on a topical basis, led by individual correspondents who each focus on specific topics. Sometimes it publishes English versions of its articles.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over US$34 billion was raised worldwide by crowdfunding.

MusicBee is a crowdfunding platform focused on independent music based in Hong Kong. The company stated its mission as to gather resources and help bring independent music projects into life, providing musicians with dreams and opportunities. MusicBee has reportedly received $2 million funding over 15 music projects within one year.

Beacon or Beacon Reader was an independent web platform to fund journalism projects founded in 2013. It was based in Oakland, California. Hundreds of journalists used the platform to finance their writing and investigations. The organisers worked with newspaper publications to promote the projects, and to help the stories produced reach a wider audience. Beacon announced in an email on October 4, 2016 that they are no longer offering services for journalists or backers, and that on September 12, 2016 all active subscriptions were cancelled and no further contributions could be made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WikiTribune</span> For-profit, user-curated news website

WikiTribune was a news wiki where volunteers wrote and curated articles about widely publicised news by proof-reading, fact-checking, suggesting possible changes, and adding sources from other, usually long established outlets. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, announced the site in April 2017 as a for-profit site, not affiliated with Wikipedia or its support organisation, the Wikimedia Foundation. Until October 2018, WikiTribune employed journalists with established backgrounds in the profession who researched, syndicated, and reported news. Its website is now a redirect to WT Social.

Chalkbeat is a non-profit news organization that covers education in several American communities. Its mission is to "inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep, local coverage of education policy and practice." It aims to cover "the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education". Its areas of focus include under-reported stories, education policy, equity, trends, and local reporting.

CrowdJustice is a commercial crowdfunding platform in the United Kingdom and the United States for projects aimed at improving access to the legal system. It was founded in 2014 by Julia Salasky.

States Newsroom is a nonprofit news network with newsrooms or a partner news organization in all 50 U.S. states.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jian, Lian; Usher, Nikki (11 December 2013). "Crowd-Funded Journalism: Crowd-Funded Journalism". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 19 (2): 155–170. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12051 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hunter, Andrea (2015). "Crowdfunding independent and freelance journalism: Negotiating journalistic norms of autonomy and objectivity". New Media & Society. 17 (2): 272–288. doi:10.1177/1461444814558915. S2CID   21039809.
  3. 1 2 3 Ingram, Mathew. "How foundation funding changes the way journalism gets done". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Crowdfunded Journalism: A Growing Addition to Publicly Driven News". Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  5. ↑ Cherubini, Federica. "What should we expect from journalism in 2024?". University of Oxford. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 "A Snapshot of Global Journalism Funding in 2024". Media Impact Funders. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  7. ↑ Jian, Lian; Shin, Jieun (2015-03-04). "Motivations Behind Donors' Contributions to Crowdfunded Journalism". Mass Communication and Society. 18 (2): 165–185. doi:10.1080/15205436.2014.911328. ISSN   1520-5436.
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