NYU’s Jay Rosen is at it again. On July 25, in this PressThink posting, he proposed a broad-strokes system to foster donation-funded enterprise journalism. Rosen reports that Craigslist founder Craig Newmark has ponied up $10,000 to start.
NewAssignment.net (the site doesn’t really exist yet, it’s just in the kicking-around stage and the domain points to Rosen’s first posting on the topic) would collect donations or sign up paying members. These people would have some say in which story ideas their dollars support.
Once project ideas get past an initial filtering process, an army of citizen journalists would do the initial fieldwork to canvass the national or international situation. When enough information is gathered to frame a more traditional news assignment, professional journalists and editors get involved to bring it to fruition and ensure journalistic quality.
In Part 2 of his sprawling discussion of this idea, Rosen responds to questions, criticisms, and skepticism raised by journalists and others. Too much to summarize, but here’s a highlight:
Rosen wrote: “Every time I have explained the site to journalists the first objection has been the same. It’s a prediction. If people do step forward to fund these New Assignments, they will be interests with an agenda who only want results that support that agenda. Or they will be passionate believers in a cause who know the truth and won’t accept an account that differs. By taking their money you’re asking for trouble.
“To which [my] answer is: Editors. Good editors. …What else do I need? Editors are the barrier between donors and journalists, the guarantors of New Assignment’s independence, the guardians of quality. End of system. Not unlike a traditional newsroom.”
It’s intriguing. I know in my 16 years of experience with the Society of Environmental Journalists, there are plenty of first-class enterprise/investigative environmental journalists who are scared about their long-term career and financial prospects — at least if they want to remain on their chosen beat. I’ll have to raise this idea with them, to see if they’d welcome it.
Hear an interview with Rosen about NewAssignment.net on Jon Gordon’s Future Tense. And USAtoday blogger Angela Gunn is skeptical.
What do you think of this idea? Please comment below. And remember, this is just an idea — and it’s not intended to be a one-size-fits-all perfect solution to all the ills of today’s news media.
