Josh over at Talking Points Memo is proposing to cover the New Hampshire primary for his blog by asking his readers to fund him to go on the trip.
Hm. Where have I heard that idea before?
OK. I'm not really miffed that he's using B2I's revenue model. I hope he pulls it off, as I think (for obvious reasons) that this kind of "epic event coverage" by professional bloggers can really advance the medium and drive the revenue model forward. I urge people to donate once he gets his plan more in place. I plan to.
But, Josh: Would it _kill_ you to mention B2I?
*UPDATE* To Aaron et al. I was _joking_ in my pique. I wasn't really miffed, as I pointed out and I really would like to see more of this kind of journalism-blogging. As I've pointed out in the past, while I may have been the first, I certainly hope I'm not the last to do this kind of reader-funded reporting.
Hm, that's a good idea...
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About me
Hi there! Thanks for stopping in. I'm Christopher Allbritton, former AP and New York Daily News reporter. In 2002, I went stumbling around Iraqi Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq outside Saddam's direct control, looking for stories. (Some might call it "looking for trouble.") In March 2003, I made it back in time for the war, becoming the Web's first fully reader-funded journalist-blogger. With the support of thousands of readers, we raised almost $15,000. You can read my dispatches here. It was one of the moments in journalism when everything worked. It was a grand -- and successful -- experiment in independent journalism. In 2004, I moved to Iraq, where I would spend the next two years. It was a raucous, scary and exciting place with a lot of news going on. But I've since moved on to Beirut and the wider region. I now report for a variety of outlets.
Given the future situation in New York with the RNC being held in your back yard you should raise funds to cover Wilkinson’s mis-deeds. Change your name, register as a repub., get in like you got in in Iraq!
And hey, cut the guy some slack. Its not like you INVENTED the “fund my website” concept… remember the chick with credit debt who even got herself on Good Morning America and such? Yeah, it irks me to no end that such a person would garner the National Media’s attention while people such as yourself get so little in comparison. I can empathize with your angst but covering the RNC and the goings on would be huge. You know they will attempt to capitalize on the WTC tragedy and this is just the first step. You need to call them on it and make them hurt for it. I would fund that!
From what he’s saying so far it seems like he may have more problems than b2i because of his idea that “‘Subscription’ in this case doesn’t mean anything exclusive. TPM will be freely available to anyone and everyone who wants to read it, whether they’ve contributed or not, just like always.” Sure the reason i contributed to b2i was because i was interested in supporting independent media and all the other things that make b2i what it is. But it definitely helps to have some differentiation for the donors. and for some, that may even mean the difference between deciding to contribute or not. either way i think it pays to fond some way to thank donors, which i think you did well.
and aaron - i think you need to remember that we are not talking about the “fund my website” concept. this is funding independent journalism - and hopefully therefore using capitalism to declare our interest in fair and honest reporting. the fact that it is in the blog format, presented on a website is merely a very effective method of dissemination.
Interesting…
We just funded an entire book on reader contributions. Check it out:
http://www.fivelies.com
We raised $19,000 from readers at Alternet.org with a single email in August. It was printed last week.
I think you should give Josh his due now that he has linked you (I jumped over from his website).
Also, I don’t think he got the idea from you, although you were certainly first.
You’re absolutely right I should! And I just did, by popping him a thank you note and $10, even though he said no more donations.
Reader-sponsored journalism… what a concept! You ought to patent that then sue Josh.
Heh. But, nah. Not to get all earnest, but the more people doing this, the better.
Christ, good to see you are happy with this, and not jealous. Your sarcasm needs a bit of work. At some point you have to go totally over the top, or people will take you too seriuously.
Think of it like a wave breaking. If you don’t ‘go over the top’, it just looks like another, high-signal wave. Which rubs people the wrong way when it goes against what they expect your tone to be (in this case, fairly ‘dry’ high-signal, low-noise content).
Anyway, peronally, I think this is the way that many bloggers will make the jump to full-on paid-completely-independant journalist (with their own world-wide multimedia distribution network for their work).
Yea, it’s the holy grail of this stuff, but good to see more people headed off in search of the thing. Josh is definitely a good one to carry on the torch.
oops, hell of a typo.
Reader sponsored journalism is a great idea, especially with some many good investigators and summarisers appearing in the blogosphere.
Why not a clearing house of RSJ products?
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