This is not just about getting the money; it is about creating a faithful community of readers. In a way, they are searching for the lost group of loyal subscribers to traditional newspapers who would call the newsroom in times of crisis as if journalists were family.
From South Africa to Brazil; from Yangon to Kabul, I heard media editors sing varying versions of the same lyrics: I feel the earth move under my feet. The media business model has now cracked all over the world. Subscriptions to newspapers and magazines drop by the thousands; traditional advertising revenue vanishes into thin air; and digital advertising revenue is poor and only seems to work for web giants. Media have certainly learnt how to increase the value of Facebook or Twitter in their quest to fish readers for their stories, but have plenty of trouble in finding how to increase the value of their own outlets.
Citizen reporters have played a notable role in journalism in developed countries such as France and the United States, and emerging markets such as China, India, Jordan, Estonia, and Nicaragua. Citizen reporters are using the internet, video, mobiles, and other digital tools to gather information, interview people, watch events, seek comments from experts, and publish their stories via blogs, videos, Wikipedia, and other platforms.
Digitization has been one of the main drivers behind the changing nature of journalism as it affected news values, professional ethics, workflows, working conditions and newsroom management. On the positive side, it tremendously improved access to information and dissemination channels, but is this ever-more-connected world a better place for independent journalism? The digital switch-over has produced an unprecedented crisis in the supply of public interest journalism— in journalism that is independent, contextual, accountable, and relevant to citizenship.
Hacks and hackers meetups. Open government initiatives. Hackathons and datafests. The media development world has discovered big data, and it is embracing it big time. Donors like the Knight and Omidyar foundations are focused almost exclusively on tech fixes to what ails the media. As one prominent donor told a nonprofit newsroom executive, “We no longer fund content.”
