
News & Analysis
Credibility Is the New Currency. And that’s Good for Independent Media
Communications lecturer and former Columbus Dispatch business journalist James Breiner on how credibility works to the advantage of independent media.
Communications lecturer and former Columbus Dispatch business journalist James Breiner on how credibility works to the advantage of independent media.
More than 20 journalists worked across four countries to uncover the hidden abuses behind the production of sugar, cacao, bananas, coffee and African palm with slave-like conditions for workers, illegal business practices and sustained environmental damage. Here’s how they did it.
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.
For the last seven years I have been interviewing and profiling successful entrepreneurial journalists in various countries of various socioconomic classes. I’ve talked to publishers and editors with staffs of as many as a hundred as well as some one-man/one-woman bands. The ones that survive and thrive after several years share some common practices.