Re:Baltica, a nonprofit newsroom based in Riga, has experimented with different forms of storytelling and types of funding to sustain its work over the past eight years. Its co-founder Inga Springe shares what she’s learned along the way.
Revenue options for nonprofit newsrooms now include everything from story sales and membership to crowdfunding and even cryptocurrency tokens. But experts say fundraising – for better or worse – remains the foundational key to the survival and growth of nonprofits around the world, writes Rowan Philp for GIJN.
Journalismfund.eu is an independent nonprofit that promotes cross-border and in-depth journalism in Europe. In this interview, Journalismfund.eu’s Managing Director Ides Debruyne shares his thoughts on “impactful” journalism and why investigative journalism is booming.
The Guardian has re-built its business around membership, and last year it appointed its executive editor for membership, Lee Glendinning, who formerly led the Guardian US. She explains how she uses her role to experiment and test new approaches.
After NJ Advance Media spent lots of time and money to find and clean up data for a police accountability project, it decided to sell this data, while still keeping its database free to the public. Reporter Stephen Stirling tells OpenNews’s Erika Owens how this works.
A new report highlights the obstacles to survival for media startups in the Global South, and checks in on the progress of two dozen of them to see how they’ve fared over the past three years. It includes advice from some of these outlets’ editors for those thinking of launching their own startups. A recurring theme: Before you do anything else, secure a couple years’ worth of funding.
Media startups from the Arab world have had to battle censorship, lack of funding and unstable political environments. In a roundtable hosted by GIJN in December at the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism forum in Jordan, founders of four startups shared their innovation tactics to survive and thrive, including renting out excess office space, training, events and paid newsletter subscriptions.
Robyn Vinter, founder of a UK-based investigative news website for working-class millennials and people outside the “London bubble,” says she made a conscious choice not to try and make a “big profit” from it. “We’re not trying to be millionaires,” says Vinter.“We’re trying to do investigative journalism, and you can’t really do both, I don’t think.”
There is one thing everyone in the journalism funding ecosystem can agree on — a free press and informed public is crucial in this age of disinformation. When the media, and truth itself, is under growing attack, philanthropic foundations and individuals are stepping up to the plate — from funding efforts to boost news literacy to building centers for investigative reporting.
For there to be real justice in the case of Jamal Khashoggi, the penalty the Saudis pay must transcend time, place and person, and positively advance the cause of journalism and rights of free speech for generations to come, not just achieve criminal convictions, visa restrictions and economic sanctions. Citizen activist Chuck Fall proposes how that might look.
