Global revolution: digital media startups rebuild trust, amplify new voices

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Global revolution: digital media startups rebuild trust, amplify new voices

Project Oasis maps a vibrant landscape of innovators in Europe and the Americas

James Breiner

Aug 1

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You’re reading the Your News Biz newsletter. My goal is to help digital media entrepreneurs find viable business models.

While major media around the world have been losing readers, advertisers, and public trust for the past two decades, a grass-roots movement of smaller media has been growing.

These small digital media aim to replace what has been lost — trustworthy journalism that serves the public interest. Project Oasis Media Directory maps more than 3,000 such media outlets in Europe, North America, and Latin America that produce this type of news.

The Project Oasis Report analyzes how these media are innovating to generate revenue (advertising, donations, subscriptions, events), create new formats for news, open new distribution channels, cover a variety of news topics (economy, education, health, public safety, corruption), avoid censorship, and create community.

SembraMedia, with support from Google News Initiative (GNI), announced the launch of the directory on Tuesday at a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The directory profiles each of the media, with data collected by SembraMedia in Europe and Hispanoamerica, AJOR in Brazil, and by LION Publishers in the U.S. and Canada. (The video of the news conference starts at 10:15)

The plan is to expand Project Oasis globally, with similar maps of media in Africa, Australia, and Asia.

Matt Cooke, head of Ecosystem Investment Programs at Google, said, “Independent digital media organizations play an important role in providing high quality news to communities across the world. Our goal with Project Oasis is to identify opportunities for collaboration and focus efforts on shared objectives that are beneficial for a diverse and innovative news ecosystem."

The report suggests that the information should be a resource for funders, policy makers, and journalists.

The big challenge: sustainability

These media have many challenges to their survival. I was particularly interested in the insights about how they are financed. Many of these media are struggling to find the resources to keep doing their work. Among the findings in the Executive Summary:

60% percent of the media are for-profit organizations, 32% are nonprofits, 5% are operating informally and 3% are hybrids that combine nonprofits and for-profits.
Average annual revenue reported by the media from Europe was $650,000; average in the U.S. and Canada was $600,000; and in Latin America, $160,000.
More than 10 percent of the media in the directory reported no revenue at all, relying on volunteer support.
Among non-profit media, grants are their primary source of revenue. Among for-profits, it’s advertising.
Media that have at least one employee dedicated to marketing and sales reported revenue four to six times higher than those without people in these roles.
Instead of using paywalls, digital native media ask for donations; 15% reported their primary source of revenue came from audience support.

The panel

The press conference included a panel discussion with, from left, Arum Venkataraman, lead of global research and insights for Google, Janine Warner, executive director of SembraMedia, Marcelo Fontoura, coordinator of Project Oasis in Brazil, and Olivia Sohr, director of impact and new initiatives of the fact-checking organization Chequeado. (Screen shot from video.)

Rebuilding trust

In a panel discussion of the report, Janine Warner, executive director of SembraMedia, highlighted how these media generate trust. Many studies show that people trust local journalism outlets more than major media. And trust leads to engagement and financial support.

“This global movement toward more and more local news organizations really gives me hope,” Warner said.

She also gave a shout-out to Chequeado, the fact-checking organization based in Argentina, for its generous help to more than a dozen other Latin American news organizations. It has collaborated with them to help them start their own fact-checking initiatives.

Harassment grows

Many of the media specialize in holding the powerful to account. Their investigative journalism reveals corruption among political and economic players. Rattling cages has consequences.

Arum Venkataraman, lead of Global Research and Insights for Google, said he was shocked by the statistic that more than half of the media in the study reported that a journalist had been subjected to online harassment, threats, or physical violence.

“It’s a very difficult environment for high-quality editorial journalism,” he said. The report suggests that there should be more collaboration in the public and private sector around safety, security, and legal support for journalists.

Build deep relationships, and focus

Marcelo Fontoura, coordinator of Project Oasis in Brazil, said these small media must build a strong connection to their audience if they want to survive. This takes time.

“When the audience knows you, and knows how you operate, and feels represented by your work, it’s easier to engage them and earn money in various ways, either by an event or maybe courses. But it takes a long time.”

Olivia Sohr, director of impact and new initiatives for Chequeado, suggested that small media organizations get a clear focus on what they do best and not get distracted by the latest trends in video or other fads.

Given that they have limited resources, they should not stretch themselves too thin, Sohr said. They should identify what their value proposition is, and build around that.

Sohr also commented on the safety of journalists. “It was very worrying to see the number of journalists who said they were being harassed. And I’m not sure we’re taking this seriously enough to prepare journalists, to help them, to accompany them, to mitigate the impact this might have in their work.”

Final thoughts

One of the big mistakes I’ve seen among digital media startups, especially those funded by grants, is to spend all their money on hiring more journalists or content producers.

This report makes clear that building a team that includes people focused on sales, marketing, generating revenue, and technology will help their survival. A team should also include business managers with sharp pencils to keep costs down.

It’s a business. Journalists aren’t used to thinking about their organizations as businesses, but they are. The big difference is that their main goal is not to make a profit for shareholders but to serve the public.

The Project Oasis Report shows us thousands of media dedicated to public service. This movement often flies below the radar, but the report should open the eyes of public officials and policy makers around the world. It also should point the way for collaboration among media organizations on solving common problems. The message: You are not alone.

When I see all these media innovating in the face of so many obstacles and giving voice to their communities, I am inspired and optimistic for the next generation of journalism.

As a member of the executive committee of SembraMedia, and its treasurer, I am proud of our team’s work on this project.

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