Need For New and Sustainable Revenue Models To Support Media

Need For New and Sustainable Revenue Models To Support Media

Ashutosh Mishra

In the crisis-ridden world of today the importance of journalism and media cannot be overemphasized. Journalists have a vital role to play in debunking myths and stemming the flow of misinformation and tamping down its impact on the minds of people.

A journalist true to his salt will go out of his way to verify facts before writing down reports. To be honest this is his basic duty, the most vital part of his calling. Investigative journalists, in particular, have to work hard to collect and sift information carefully before publishing their stories.

But people who view journalists as crusaders in pursuit of truth often fail to appreciate the problems they face. And most people who claim to have an understanding of the challenges media-persons face view them through a prism coloured by Bollywood movies which show journalists clashing with corrupt officials and even getting beaten up by goons.

These are indeed among some of the most formidable challenges that journalists face but they are not the only ones. A much more important and basic question facing the media world today is what happens when journalists run out of the means to sustain themselves? What happens when there is no wherewithal to sustain newsrooms?

Financing independent media ventures is becoming increasingly difficult in a world fraught with economic uncertainties. Investigative journalism is likely to suffer the most in such a scenario because it needs substantial investment in order to be effective. The issue has been debated long enough for stakeholders in the media to come up with viable solutions.

Discussions on a variety of platforms across the world have thrown up a slew of suggestions, some of which are worth considering. Some, in fact, have been tried out even though on an experimental basis. The editor of an independent media organisations, who rightly believes that people should actually pay for news if they don’t want self-centres oligarchs to capture and monopolise the media, relies on small but regular donations from a dedicated community of people who support his venture.

He claims to have completely done away with reliance on advertisements to finance his operations. There is a growing realization about the need for the evolution of new forms of media funding. New financing models have become imperative as media organisations have to grow both in terms of infrastructure and content in order to be effective.

This is so important in a world that does not spend even one per cent on developmental assistance to media. Public funding to make media ventures sustainable is one of the many suggestions that is being debated vigorously. It has worked in some cases but big time funding still remains a problem. Besides, there are ethical issues involved in this.

The more popular subscription model has also been tried and proved effective in some cases but not all. The problem is even more acute in the case of freelance journalists who often find themselves at a loss about how to sell their stories. Lack of institutional support is the biggest handicap they face. Innovative platforms like 5WH best cater to the needs of this breed which is full of talent and promise but remains hamstrung by the absence of marketing support.

This is a unique venture that not only offers them tremendous marketing opportunities but also takes care to curate their stories before making them available to end users. Such ventures involve out-of-the-box thinking but we need more of them if we want journalism to become self-sustainable and avoid the risk of news being dictated by the select few with the power to control it.