Introducing the First Civil Council Members, and Looking Ahead to the Next Year
As we count down towards the Civil launch, I want to provide some updates on the evolution of the Civil Constitution and governance, announce our first Council members and lay out where we go from here.
First, a little context. Civil is intended to be an open platform for ethical journalism, with a mission to restore trust between quality news media and audiences. That trust comes from self-governance. No single owner or corporate interest will determine what can and cannot be published. Moreover, we aspire to help solve the sustainability problem for news organizations large and small around the world by introducing new ways for publishers to get paid, and new incentives for discovery of new sources. And we’re doing this all out in the open.
Ambitious? You bet it is. But the current global crisis demands bold action.
Self-governance does not mean the wild west. At the heart of Civil is the Constitution. It is the basis for determining what does — and does not — constitute ethical journalism on Civil. More than blockchain or cryptoeconomics, it’s what will truly differentiate Civil from other sources of news and information. So we’re taking great care to develop both the content of the Constitution and the process by which we turn it over to the community for self-governance. This is the document that holds us all accountable so we need to get it right, or at least as right as possible.
That brings me to the Civil Council. I’ve been asked countless times since I joined: “How can we be sure the governance can’t be gamed?” We believe cryptoeconomics introduces a powerful new incentive structure for ethical journalism. But we think it’s equally important to empower a group of experienced journalism experts to ensure that the Civil Constitution remains the rule of the road for all activity.
That’s where the Civil Council comes in. This is a group of about 15 journalists, academics and free-speech specialists from different parts of the world and with broadly varying perspectives. They will serve as advisors on the Constitution as it develops and as a court of appeals for the community. I’m happy to announce the first five council members:
- Emily Bell, founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and a leading thinker, commentator and strategist on digital journalism. Prior to joining Tow, Bell spent most of her career at the Guardian in London working as an award winning writer and editor .
- Maria Ressa, long-time journalist and now founder and CEO of the Rappler, an online news organization based in the Philippines. She spent two decades at CNN as bureau chief and investigative reporter.
- Sue Gardner, Canadian journalist, not-for-profit executive and business executive. She was the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation for seven years. Prior to that she was the director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s website and online news outlets.
- Raju Narisetti, Professor of Professional Practice and Director, Knight-Bagehot Fellowships at Columbia University. He was most recently CEO of Gizmodo Media group and held senior business and editorial roles at News Corp, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He was also the founder and editor of India’s business publication, Mint.
- Ellen P. Goodman, professor of Law at Rutgers University, specializing in information policy law: free speech, media policy, privacy, data ethics, advertising and digital platform power. She is co-director and co-founder of the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy & Law, formerly a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, and advisor to the FCC.
Look for more council members to be announced in the coming weeks.
Lastly, I’d like to lay out the process we’re building to implement the Constitution. If it seems like a drawn-out process, that’s because we want to learn from the early days of the platform in order to tap real-life examples. Many of the elements that we’ll want to include may only reveal themselves after we’re live. Think of this as a careful, thoughtful and multi-stage path to full community autonomy.
1. CURRENT STATE: BETA
On May 4th we published the Constitution in beta form. Since then, we’ve had some excellent comments and feedback from the community. But we’d love much more! Please share your feedback directly in the document here.
2. VERSION 1: TO BE PUBLISHED AT LAUNCH (LATE AUGUST)
We’ll soon be launching the Civil Registry — that’s where anyone can apply to start a newsroom on Civil. As part of that they need to sign the constitution and commit to abiding by it. So this “launch version” of the constitution is important. It will reflect your feedback on the beta, as well some things we think might be missing (like a clear journalism ethics policy). As you can see, we’re starting to assemble a world class Civil Council and as they will be providing feedback as well.
3. VERSION 2: TO BE PUBLISHED NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 31, 2018
Once Civil is live, many real life opportunities, challenges, and conundra will present themselves. The community will have thoughts about what’s working and what’s not. The Council will be up and running and will help synthesize that community feedback. By the end of the year, we should have a good sense of what needs to be changed and will publish a new draft accordingly.
4. COMMUNITY AUTONOMY. TARGET: SECOND HALF OF 2019
Our ultimate goal is community self-management. That will come with a formal ratification of a Constitution that reflects a year’s worth of experience from a broader set of global stakeholders, newsrooms and others. From this stage forward, the community will be able to offer up amendments to the Constitution to be ratified by the community. The Council, after a period of advising on the content of the Constitution, will now serve solely as a court of appeals in response to community action.
We hope you agree these stages represent a deliberate and thoughtful approach to governance of Civil. There’s a lot here so please share your feedback. Civil is YOUR community so we want to hear from you.
Vivian
