Seeking alternative paths to media sustainability
From revenue streams and Instagram influencers to the CBC and journalism schools, a panel discussion on “Alternative News Models and the Pandemic” at Thursday’s opening day of the Journalism in the Time of Crisis conference featured a wide range of issues and perspectives.
Moderated by Colette Watson, president of CPAC — Canada’s Cable Public Affairs Channel — the panel featured an international array of journalists with diverse backgrounds. The discussion focused on ways in which small-scale journalism publishers can operate in the pandemic-affected news market.
The panel began with a pre-recorded interview between Watson and panelist Alan Soon, co-founder of Splice Media.
Splice reports on and advocates for the transformation of media in Asia. Soon has worked in radio, television, news wires, magazine, and online outlets across Asia, including Bloomberg, CNBC, Kyodo News, Star TV and Channel NewsAsia. He led one of the largest digital news teams in the industry as Yahoo’s Managing Editor for India and Southeast Asia.
In the interview, Soon said he has mixed feelings about journalism schools in their current form.
“I believe in the ethics of journalism, but I do not believe in the way (journalism) is being operated right now as a business,” said Soon.
Soon said he thinks some of the focus in journalism education should be moved towards influencers.
On the topic of influencers, Jesse Brown, founder and publisher of CANADALAND, said they are people who do not come from the traditional world of journalism, but need to be included and taught the tools of verifying information.
During the panel, Brown brought up a widely expressed concern about Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC. He said that by allowing the state-funded news organization to also continue to amass advertising dollars is diluting the amount of ad revenue available to private, independent news outlets.
“I’m not putting my hand out,” said Brown. “I am raising my hand for myself and other publications that are being affected.”
During the discussion, there was a consensus among panelists that a reader-based funding system would be the most viable independent funding model.
“The aim is to become 100-per-cent reader-funded as soon as possible,” said Linda Solomon Wood, editor-in-chief of Canada’s National Observer, a leading digital news site.
Wood and Brown agreed that when it comes to exerting influence and independence in the news business, honesty remains the best policy.
The fourth panellist, Janine Warner, co-founder of SembraMedia, spent a portion of her time giving journalists tips on how to make their news organizations succeed as both businesses and engines of democratic communication.
A key message Warner conveyed was that news businesses must diversify how their revenue is generated. She offered a selection of methods as illustrated below.
Warner added the diversifying revenue sources gives organizations the best chance of surviving not only tough economic situations — including the current pandemic — but also political upheaval as well.
“All of us have to take money from somewhere,” noted Wood. “We have to be honest with ourselves about the complexities of independence.”
Watch the whole panel here.
