Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/category/sustainability/)
Malaysiakini gained a global reputation by remaining independent while publishing in a restrictive media atmosphere. After 22 years at the helm, co-founder Premesh Chandran speaks about creating a quadrilingual website that receives millions of unique pageviews a day, and about helping to change the media conversation in Malaysia.
The “dream” of Efecto Cocuyo began mid-2014, initially a discussion in cafes with colleagues and friends Laura Weffer and Josefina Ruggiero, as well as three young journalists. An incubator programme helped the team design an operational and business model and in January 2015 Efecto Cocuyo was born, launching first on Twitter and gaining 18,000 followers in its first week. At the time of writing, it had more than 724,000.
Even after the coup in Myanmar, Frontier Myanmar has continued reporting on socio-economic issues. Publishing deeply reported pieces has made them popular among their readers. However, the entire website is now behind a paywall and available only to paying members — rates that are high for an average news consumer within a country where roughly 37% of the people live below the poverty line.
Press freedom – as exercised by independent news organizations free from the control of governments, political parties and other partisan interests – is fundamental to the development of peaceful, just and democratic societies. These organizations foster dialogue, respect for individual rights and good governance.
In this excerpt, the executive editor of a regional US news outlet reveals the tactics that worked — and didn’t work — in their innovative campaign to raise $1 million to fund investigations. Among the key tips that emerged: one-on-one meetings, direct reach-outs, and published “what it cost” boxes are effective, and framing the pitch around benefits for the community, rather than the outlet, causes donors to dig deeper.
For digital-first news outlets in Latin America, lessons learned from reader-funding experiments are being transformed into highly tailored membership programs that offer a chance at a more sustainable future. Independent, mission-driven or subject-specific news sites, in particular, are leading the way, converting close relationships with audiences into funding through editorially-linked, labor-intensive initiatives.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network is delighted to announce the selection of three Asian media organizations as participants in our new Investigative Journalism Assessment Program (IJ-MAP): The Caravan magazine in India, the KBR radio network in Indonesia; and the nonprofit Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
