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I think this is less wacky than it sounds at first (I have a friend who pays for his hotmail account). Perhaps this model could save/revive professional journal
by graphene 17y ago
I think this is less wacky than it sounds at first (I have a friend who pays for his hotmail account). Perhaps this model could save/revive professional journalism, by letting readers voluntarily contribute on a per-article basis?
- stcredzero 17y agoSome journalism requires more resources than one person can usually command. Perhaps celebrities could step in to raise funds in those cases? There is a silly amount of $$$ spent by the military/industrial complex on PR. (Several years ago the $ spent on armed forces bands was about the same as NPR's budget.) Much journalism seems to be an arm of PR. Seems like PR is replacing journalism. This only makes sense -- apparently there's a lot more money in PR than journalism! Independent journalism is vital for real democracy. Perhaps democracy is doomed because journalism can't survive free information?
- graphene 17y agoNo, that's exactly my point; perhaps independent journalism, which doesn't seem viable given current economic patterns, can become self-sustainable through internet publishing and voluntary contributions by appreciative readers. There's plenty of good journalism to be done with just an internet connection, a phone and an inquiring mind, as long as you know you will be reimbursed. At least I'd like to think so :-)
- stcredzero 17y agoThat only goes so far. And if you have people sitting in their apartments, living off contributions and tips, isn't it going to be easy for the powers that be to pay off a large number of bloggers? Won't the situation be manipulated to recreate the one we have today -- journalism as just an aggregate of PR from various sources -- just delivered more efficiently at lower cost?