Saturday, May 3, 2008

New Money, New Media, New Hope?

More from the NewsTools2008 session in Sunnyvale, CA. where journalists from the Bay Area and beyond are mulling this question: What kind of journalism does our democracy demand?

The journalism business model has not been reader-focused, instead it’s been one where journalism organization sells the loyalty of its local readers to businesses who want to sell goods, services, or even points of view to them.

So, if journalism is important to democratic institutions, then why not have the public fund the collection and analysis of information? Is there a model, used by National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting.

David Talbot started Salon in 1995, hooking up with progressive Silicon Valley investors to produce forward-thinking journalism. He’s now at the San Francisco Free Press, a nonprofit online journalism model. He feels that “wiki” journalism isn’t viable because you do need to pay people a living wage at some point.

And of course, talking about living wages, leads us to think of how journalists are categorized as professionals. Should journalists be credentialed in order to receive public funds?

There’s a lot of conversation about giving citizens want they SAY they want and what they REALLY BUY. It’s the journalism conundrum. When they answer a survey, or talk to a journalists, are they saying what they SHOULD say, rather than what they want. If you follow the money, then the top selling newspaper is USAToday, and top circulation magazines include Better Homes & Gardens and National Geographic.

Can journalists really become entrepreneurial without looking like sell-outs? It’s poison for journalists who uphold independence, fairness and objectivity, to then have to jump over the money wall to get paid for what they do. We don’t want to pander to writing for hire, yet smaller organizations must do that to stay alive and to fund the journalism that has no “advertising niche.”

And how about grants, specifically foundations that want journalists to do certain types of coverage, include seemingly general topics like poverty or education? Ten years ago, some in mainstream media didn’t want to accept funds from the Pew Center to fund civic journalism. Now there’s a lot of conversation about mainstream media accepting funds. Now, it’s true that radio and TV have long been audience-funded media. So, are there new rules about who we, as journalism organizations, accept money from now? Or is this just another ethical slippery slope? First, we accept one grant, then it’s easier to accept a more restricted grant.

In my class at the University of Missouri, we talk a lot about public funding, even tax support for media. How can we get government funding without the taint or reality of government control? Are there models for this? How can the models evolve?

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