Investigative journalists face extraordinary challenges, with legal and physical threats, growing surveillance, online trolls, and a financial model that’s all but collapsed. Now add to that a global pandemic and a backlash against democracy and independent media, and you can see our field is under tremendous pressure.
In this excerpt from Anya Schiffrin’s latest report on the state of sustainability of journalism, the author discusses how government funding can throw the profession a lifeline in an era where philanthropic efforts to support the press are struggling and Big Tech is increasingly seen as a competitor instead of a platform for news organizations.
The roots of today’s increasingly captured media in India lie deep and go back a couple of decades to the seemingly innocuous newspaper business practices of India’s largest media company, Bennett Coleman & Company, founded in 1838. The resulting, industry-wide cap on newspaper subscription prices in India has, over time, created a very unhealthy, near 100-percent dependence on advertising.
This week’s Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English each week, includes the backstory to Ukraine’s YanukovychLeaks, how journalists around the world are using defamation laws to protect themselves against online harassment, and a new free tool that could help journalists spot doctored photographs.
The recently published paper, Bridging the Gap, Rebuilding Citizen Trust in Media, probably offers the most complete list of the current projects around media and trust. But those interviewed for the project viewed trust — and the way publications can gain and sustain it — differently. However, all initiatives seem to rely on two principles to optimize trust: transparency and participation.
Journalists in many countries are experimenting with how to build trust and engage with audiences. Now, a new study, Bridging the Gap: Rebuilding Citizen Trust in the Media, profiles organizations working to build bridges with readers, viewers and listeners and deliver relevant news to local audiences. The study surveys 17 organizations from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
Global Muckraking is the first anthology of journalism from developing countries that goes back to the 19th century and includes 46 pieces of iconic reporting, each of which is introduced by a journalist, scholar, historian or activist who explains why the piece was important and what kind of impact it had (or didn’t) after it was published.
