Democratizing Journalism

I saw a tweet a couple years ago which asserted that it was no coincidence that America pulled out of Afghanistan around the same time that fentanyl became available. The implication is that America was only in Afghanistan to farm their poppies for opium, but when opium became obsolete they decided to cut their losses and leave. An explanation for why it was so hasty and ill-prepared: there was no money left for them there.

The day after I was listening to a podcast called the "Brilliant Idiots" where radio personality and media mogul Charlamagne tha God spoke about Michael Jackson. To summarize, he said that Michael Jackson was getting too powerful and had too much sway in the music industry. Because Michael Jackson owned his own masters and publishing rights, the publishing rights of many major artists like The Beatles, Elvis, Eminem, Springsteen and many others, he had the power to make a change in the very predatory music industry. The powers that be in the industry could not risk that, so they set him up with false allegations of child abuse and ruined his reputation.

Now I don't know if either of these stories are true. But I am so compelled and would like to know the truth of them. In fact, I am so interested in the truth of it, I would probably be willing to give about $50 or $100 for someone to investigate these for me and come back with results. And if I am interested in these topics and Charlamagne is interested in these topics, then I'm sure there are thousands of people interested in these topics. And maybe a small percentage of them would also be willing to give $50 for someone to investigate.

Herein lies the idea: Kickstarter for journalism.

No journalist at any legacy publication would investigate these topics. Mostly because their editors would not let them. Most journalists are beholden to people who only exist to get clicks, and a deep investigation like this would take weeks and maybe nothing would come out of it. There's also the fact that publications would not do anything to go against their government or the wealthy who could be harmed by the aforementioned stories coming out.

But there are people that would. I follow many independent journalists on the Internet like Johnny Harris and Coffeezilla and they report on topics that legacy media doesn't. Topics that interest them. And if you spend any time on the Internet you will know that it is filled with these types of people. On forums on Reddit and YouTube, they will spend hundreds of hours fixating on something and actually come away with meaningful results.

Here's a rough outline of the opportunity (I'm going to use arbitrary times and numbers here):

Outline

Anybody can create a listing for a topic they would like to be investigated. It costs $50 to create a listing and a listing must follow guidelines so we don't overload the platform with spam.

This listing has a date when submissions can start and a date when submissions end. The listing raises money through crowdfunding from normal people who want to see an investigation come to light. The more money is raised, the more incentive there is for independent journalists to think about investigating the topic.

When submissions start, independent journalists can pay $50 to submit their reporting to prevent spam. During the time between when submissions start and end, the funders can allocate their money to whichever submission they think best represents an investigation into the listing. In the end, the journalists get paid purely on the merit of their reporting. If more people think their piece was better, then they will receive the most money. If they come up with a bunch of garbage, nobody allocates them money and they end up losing money and time. If somebody does not actually allocate their funds, it gets evenly distributed.

All of the reports are available on the platform forever for anyone to see.

Advantages for Consumers

  1. Actually get reporting on topics and stories they are interested in
  2. Get answers on things that are important to them
  3. Make their voice heard in media
  4. Independent journalists are not restricted by their platform

Advantages for Independent Journalists

  1. Not be beholden to their platform's sponsors and donors
  2. True independence
  3. Potentially get paid a lot (I could see some bounties going into the millions)
  4. Choose what you want to report or investigate
  5. Make a difference in the world
  6. Fame and renown if their stories cause change

How I See It Playing Out

In a world where this platform is successful, these are some things I see happening, good or bad.

GOOD

  • Independent journalists form groups to submit many stories and claim high bounties
  • High visibility listings get bounties in the millions
  • Many listings are smaller, about local issues, but they get large bounties from passionate affected individuals
  • Historic platform with reports that have world-changing consequences
  • Probably not that much money to be made for the platform, but it could be one of the most important companies in the world

BAD

  • Lots of attempts to game the system. Most of the work will be preventing these.
  • Governments and large corporations get involved to shut down certain stories and threaten legal action. Again, a lot of money on this.
  • Journalists do unethical things in order to get information for their stories This is a project I would work on so passionately if given the chance but impossible to get funding. And it would need funding to get initial users or else it would be dead on arrival.