VOICES Publishing from the AAJA National Convention
As journalism heads further into the digital era, investors and venture capitalists are actively seeking to fund new media start-ups that help improve a struggling media landscape.
But with shakeups in business models, how is entrepreneurial journalism funded?
A panel discussion at the AAJA national convention allowed attendees to make direct pitches to potential financial backers. They heard a range of ideas, from start-up companies to long-form editorial projects.
Angel investor James Hong offered a bit of advice during the Thursday panel.
“You have to be able to see it,” Hong said. “A company can start with a niche group, but you have to build an audience. We fund projects based on the people and the space.”
But knowing what it takes seems half the battle.
Entrepreneurial journalists and entrepreneurial journalism aren’t necessarily one in the same.
“Journalists with the spirit of entrepreneurship are entrepreneurial journalists,” said AAJA Vice President Yvonne Leow, who also is a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford. “They’re intrepid and trying something new without knowing the result. That’s the entrepreneur spirit.”
For her fellowship, Leow worked with local start-ups to help visualize historical data from newspapers for journalists to easily access. (add video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9RXrejlXXE)
The fellowship website said Leow “learned about the business of digital marketplaces, managing growing ventures, entrepreneurship for women, civic programming and the fundamentals of improv.”
Leow, who has worked for The Associated Press and was part of Digital First Media’s Project Thunderdome, said it’s difficult to pinpoint what investors are looking for in journalists.
“It depends on what type of company they are,” Leow said. “Each investor decides what they are looking for in a journalist based on their interests.”
Entrepreneurial journalism uses innovative methods in journalism to create business models for news and technology and tools for reporting. Apps that journalists commonly use such as Evrybit are examples of tools that utilize the media to function.
Started by journalist Eric Ortiz, Evrybit functions as a live storytelling app. Journalists can organize a story from start to finish using video, audio, photos, text and more.
“Important stories are not being told today,” Ortiz said. “We need new technology that will allow audience to engage and work together with reporters. The world is very connected now. New apps like Evrybit is going to make journalism a lot faster and easier.”
There are many other companies in the Bay Area and across the country that are starting to incorporate journalism with their businesses. Leow believes that with the rise of these companies, we can find new ways to not only improve the way we report, but also preserve journalism from the past.
“The nature of digital is dynamic. Stories are constantly updated and delivered in a variety of formats,” Leow wrote on her website. “If journalism’s mission is to document our lives, how can we preserve our journalism?”
It might be entrepreneurial journalists who not only find an answer to Leow’s question, but build businesses around questions like these.
