Accountability and Transparency of Entrepreneurial Journalism

Abstract

Crowdfunding is a new business model in which journalists rely—and depend—on (micro-) payments by a large number of supporters to finance their reporting. In this form of entrepreneurial journalism the roles of publisher, fundraiser and journalist often overlap. This raises questions about conflicts of interest, accountability and transparency. The article presents the results of selected case studies in four different European countries—Germany (Krautreporter), Italy (Occhidellaguerra), the United Kingdom (Contributoria) and the Netherlands (De Correspondent)—as well as one US example (Kickstarter). The study used a two-step methodological approach: first a content analysis of the websites and the Twitter accounts with regard to practices of media accountability, transparency and user participation was undertaken. The aim was to investigate how far ethical challenges in crowdfunded entrepreneurial journalism are accounted for. Second, we present findings from semi-structured interviews with journalists from each crowdfunding. The study provides evidence about the ethical issues in this area, particularly in relation to production transparency and responsiveness. The study also shows that in some cases of crowdfunding (platforms), accountability is outsourced and implemented only through the audience participation.

KEYWORDS:

• accountability
• crowdfunding
• entrepreneurial journalism
• participation
• transparency

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Other publications, such as Carvajal, García-Avilés, and González (2012), focus on the context of crowdfunding and what the relation between backers and journalists entails from a networking economy perspective.

2. “We typically decline to participate in academic research but if you send over the questions I'll do my best to answer them” (Justin Kazmark, personal communication with Sergio Splendore by e-mail, January 9, 2015).

3. See http://www.ilgiornale.it/sites/default/files/pdf/codice_etico.pdf (accessed November 23, 2015).

4. See http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/krautreporter-108.html (accessed November 23, 2015).

5. All quotes are taken from the following Web pages (the German and Italian quotes are translated by the authors): https://decorrespondent.nl/en; https://krautreporter.de/pages/ueber_uns; https://www.contributoria.com/about/community; http://www.gliocchidellaguerra.it/chi-siamo (all accessed November 23, 2015).

6. Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats?ref=footer (accessed November 23, 2015).

7. Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/.

8. As Kickstarter is not a journalism-specific platform, we decided not to include their Twitter account in the analysis.

9. Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter%20basics (accessed November 23, 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Colin Porlezza

Colin Porlezza (author to whom correspondence should be addressed), Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ), University of Zurich, Switzerland. Web: www.ipmz.uzh.ch

Sergio Splendore

Sergio Splendore, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.sps.unimi.it