The Impact of Entrepreneurial Journalists
By Jadriena Solomon
Inflection Point//Sembra Media explores the ‘impacts, threats and sustainability” of Latin American Digital Entrepreneurs. For my focus, I narrowed in on the section that explored impact — to which I agreed with many of the claims made by the author.
Entrepreneurial journalists are certainly producing news stories that journalists employed at larger corporations are unable to, for fear of governmental control or interference, repercussion of losing monetary funding, or being personally targeted etc. These journalists can report from a stance that is free of influence, and most importantly motivated by the desire to inform the public of vital information that can alter or shape their lives.
Entrepreneurial journalists are great assets to applying pressure on the goernement when it comes to issues like reform. Their news stories are able to work its way up the ladder of attention, through natural urgency. Of course, as cited by the author, this may lead to circumstances where “ larger media organizations simply appropriate and republish their images, videos, and other information without giving them credit” (pg 16) but it’s very possible that in due time independent journalists can establish and protect themselves and their reporting to be of value to these larger corporations and wager or leverage a relationship that is equally beneficial to them as well (freelancing, redirecting traffic, etc.)
This notion could be integrated into the product that my group is currently working on:
For our app that will be available citywide, we could partner with local or entrepreneurial journalists and create a platform to feature these stories while giving them the exposure and credit that they deserve for their work. While fulfilling our need to have content for our app that will keep NYC residents and commuters informed, it will also give these journalists a widespread platform — potentially catching the eyeballs of city, state and even national officials prompting possible awards and efforts of recognition for their work.
Ultimately this shows, how platforms and entrepreneurial journalists can work together for the greater good of not only establishing a startup company, or propelling a journalist’s career but also informing the public with information that is accurate, timely and impactful to their lives.
