From blockchain to Civil: how to build a trusted network of independent newsrooms
As journalism is plagued both by an economic crisis which threatens the existence of all media, especially small ones, and by a general mistrust of content, counter initiatives are flourishing. Civil, a community of news organizations worldwide, based on blockchain, is one of them. Vivian Schiller, former executive of major media industry institutions, head of the Civil Foundation which forms the ethical base of Civil, and also a speaker at the GEN Summit, explains how this new network operates.
GEN: With the multiplication of information channels and fake news, the trust in media is decreasing. How can the Civil labelling of newsrooms help rebuild this trust?
Vivian Schiller, CEO of Civil Media Foundation: This is an incredibly difficult time for independent journalism. The twin crises of financial instability and declining trust has put journalism at risk around the world, depriving citizens of the information they need to fully participate in society. These are the challenges that have inspired us to launch Civil.
We believe that by putting the ownership of the network into the hands of journalists and the public they serve, we can help rebuild trust. There is no single entity deciding what good journalism is, no algorithm sorting which stories you see. Rather, there are a set of journalism standards that each newsroom on Civil is expected to uphold, and a global public who will hold them accountable. Our hope is that over time, the Civil badge will be a recognised standard for ethical journalism, like a “Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” or, as they call it in the UK, a “Kitemark.”
And by signaling that quality to the audience — and with discovery and monetization tools we will be launching — we hope to be part of the sustainability solution.
Can you give us more details about how the independent Civil ecosystem works?
Here’s how it works. When a newsroom signs on to Civil, they do not give up any of their autonomy. Rather, they become part of a network of independently owned and operated news organisations that have one thing in common: they practice ethical journalism.
These newsrooms also have a stake in how the whole network is governed — as do members of the public who want to have a voice in the future of quality news. The mechanism for that is a piece of software called a Civil token, or CVL, which is a cryptocurrency. It represents a stake in the network, and also a voting mechanism. If a news organisation tries to join Civil and they don’t meet the community’s stated journalism standards, they can be voted off (with plenty of checks and balances to prevent manipulation).
By connecting trustworthy newsrooms around the world, we hope to drive attention to newsrooms that can, if they choose to, pursue direct, reader-supported models — in addition to whatever other revenue streams they may be pursuing.
Which media publishers are you targeting for joining the Civil community?
Any news organisation is welcome to join, though our initial focus is on small– to medium-size newsrooms, as we think they are most at risk, and stand to gain the most from being part of Civil.
Checking the list of Civil newsrooms members, they seem to previously have been mostly local American publishers, but 40 additional newsrooms are preparing to join for the February launch. What will a more global community mean for you?
Actually, we are now at nearly 100! And our newsrooms are located all over the world. Some of the newsrooms that will be joining Civil include El Intercambio from Guatemala; a new investigative newsroom in Libya; Rappler in the Philippines; Transitions in Eastern Europe; 14ymedio 14ymedio in Cuba; ADN Sur in Argentina; and many more.
We’re eager to bring a more global perspective to our community, and that’s been a major focus of the Civil Foundation’s efforts to build out the community. People in 61 different countries registered to purchase Civil tokens during the initial sale — so we want to be sure we’re actively onboarding newsrooms to meet that demand.
What are the benefits for newsrooms joining Civil? (Strengthen the newsroom network? Gain access to news markets? etc.)
Many of our early newsrooms have found it incredibly valuable to be a part of a global community of like-minded newsroom leaders with whom they can learn and share. We’ve set up tools to make it easy for Civil newsrooms to communicate with each other. In addition, Civil is offering a number of benefits including:
· Custom publishing tools to permanently archive content to the blockchain
· Access to discounts from industry leading vendors, exclusively for Civil newsrooms
· Support, strategy and mentorship to improve editorial product and business models
· Training and onboarding resources to help newsrooms make best use of publishing products and platform features
· The ability to experiment with the CVL cryptocurrency to open up new revenue streams (e.g. microtipping) and audience engagement
· And a little later this year, ways to syndicate content to other Civil newsrooms
The Civil tokens allow members to participate in Civil governance, as well as to ‘financially reward newsrooms”. How do they do that?
Civil tokens are a cryptocurrency, which is a piece of software. But it does have a tangible economic value. We don’t expect newsrooms to immediately stop accepting cash-based payments in favor of Civil tokens, of course. But they represent an opportunity to experiment with fee-free peer-to-peer payments, such as microtipping, that can complement more traditional subscription and membership strategies.
When a newsroom wants to join Civil, must all Civil members vote for or against it? If so, does this require them to study each new candidate?
No. If a quality newsroom applies to join Civil, the default step for users is to take no action, and for the newsroom to be accepted by default. We want to build an inclusive community of great newsrooms from around the world and aren’t looking to create any artificial barriers. A newsroom should only be challenged if it’s found to have violated any core tenets of the Civil Constitution.
If a challenge happens, a community vote occurs based on the issue at hand. And even then, newsrooms have recourse to appeal those outcomes to the Civil Council, whose job is to interpret whether the vote was indeed carried out in the spirit of Civil’s ethical journalism standards.
Do you think the blockchain model is the only way — or the main way — to create an independent news ecosystem?
The reason we built Civil on blockchain technology is because it provides a platform that makes community governance possible and protects the independence of the network from any single source of power or control.
What are the main resistances you see for the understanding of blockchain in the news industry?
Blockchain is what enables Civil’s community-owned and operated model to function. But it’s not something we’re interested in making synonymous with “Civil.” Bringing together an impassioned community in support of journalism is our ultimate goal.
Blockchain technology is still in its earliest days, so there’s limited understanding of what it is and how it works. Worse, cryptocurrencies have earned a bad name in some corners due to some disreputable actors who propagated get rich quick schemes. Those are the immediate challenges for Civil and any other consumer-facing applications of blockchain technology that comes along. So, it’s on us to build an intuitive user experience that is easy to understand.
The first CVL token sale last year did not reach Civil expectations (1,45 million dollars instead of the 8 million dollars expected). What lessons have you drawn from that first experiment that you apply in the February new launch?
We didn’t go about the token sale in the right way. We were following a “traditional” token sale model, which relies on a fixed window of time to raise a fixed amount of money, and that was just not the right approach for what we’re trying to build. We had more than 2,500 people from 61 counties register to purchase tokens, which was within the range of initial participants we were targeting, but less than half succeeded in completing their purchase by the end of the token sale, because it was too difficult and the deadline to participate was too narrow.
We’ve spent the past few months entirely rebuilding our approach and have now created a much friendlier buying experience. Now, the experience of buying tokens will be a more traditional e-commerce experience. The Civil Media Company will sell the 34mm tokens till they are gone — whether that takes months or years. And it’ll be much easier to buy them. All net proceeds from the sale of Civil tokens will still go to the Civil Foundation, it’s just going to occur over an extended time period.
In any way, could Civil become a counter-power of giant platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. which sometimes convey articles of disinformation/misinformation?
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms have emerged as the dominant medium for finding, sharing and supporting news. We’re taking a different approach insofar as we’re not built around a singular feed, and — importantly — Civil is controlled by its community of readers and newsrooms.
So, in that regard, yes, we absolutely aspire to become a trusted alternative to the major platforms that have currently cornered the news distribution market.
What is the importance of the distribution of CVL token, to readers and newsrooms, why is this needed?
Civil is decentralized, meaning it is controlled by its community of users. So, it’s absolutely critical that we focus on how and to whom we distribute tokens, as these initial token holders will be responsible for making key decisions that will shape Civil’s early evolution.
That’s why we’ve supported 14 independent newsrooms over the past year, which will be among the first newsrooms to officially publish as part of the Civil network. We want to set a strong precedent that we’re here to promote quality journalism above all, and we want to attract others who share that sentiment. Currently, we are offering token grants to news organizations around the world to help them join the network and participate in the governance.
Is the Civil Constitution more than a summary of journalistic ‘code of ethics’? If so, what does it add?
We’re not trying to reinvent quality journalism. We’re trying to capture a set of standards that capture at a high-level what quality journalism looks like. The tricky part has been making it global. Not every country has the first amendment protection of the U.S., which is why we are doing extensive research. We held meetings with journalists in New York, London, Toronto, Washington and Hong Kong — almost 100 experienced editors, reporters and academics in all. We engaged with standards and ethics experts in nine countries. We sought input from members of the Civil Council and from journalists working at existing Civil newsrooms. And we sought and received input from the public via our Telegram channel, by email, over Twitter and in person. We debated again and again — and again — about how the Constitution should be structured. That said, it’s a living document that will no doubt evolve over time.
Have you received any feedback from legacy media (big actors NYT, WaPo, WSJ…)? If so, is it important to you what they have to say?
We’ve had conversations with some of the big players but that’s not our focus at the moment. We’re looking at the little guys who are doing great work and looking for audience and revenue. We think we can help them.
Beside the non-profit Civil Foundation stands a for-profit entity, Civil Media. What are the business models for the two, and how to they go hand-in-hand?
The Civil Foundation is not-for-profit. We had some initial funding from ConsenSys, but all future funding will come from net proceeds from Civil tokens, and later from philanthropic individuals and foundations who want to support independent journalism.
The Civil Media Company is for-profit. They are focusing on revenue-generating software for newsrooms such as syndication, distribution, membership and funding tools.
Do you see yourself as having any competitors? If so, who are they?
We view everyone in the media ecosystem as potential partners, not competitors. Our focus is on promoting a healthier place to find, share and support quality journalism. Anyone that is on that journey is a potential collaborator. We’ve been lucky to work with many great institutions already — EJC, ICFJ, Splice and others.
What is the future holding for Civil, and at what point will you decide you’ve reached success?
We’re in this for the long haul, and there’s no imminent “end goal” that will spell success. We aim to bring in more than 1,000 newsrooms to our network by the end of this year. We want to see them making a real impact in their communities while taking strides to become more sustainable, and to engage their readers in new and meaningful ways. If we see that occur by the end of this year, we’ll certainly feel encouraged — but that will just be the first step on what promises to be a long and exciting road ahead.
Vivian Schiller heads the Civil Foundation, which upholds the journalism ethics and standards of Civil, a worldwide community-owned journalism network. Prior to joining Civil, Vivian has held leading executive roles in the media industry, among others at Twitter, National Public Radio (NPR) and the NYTimes.com.
Vivian Schiller will be a speaker at the GEN Summit in Athens, 13–15 June 2019.
