Investigative Journalism in the Digital Age
02/04/2015
On Friday April 3 2015, at Harvard Law School's Wasserstein Hall, Richard Tofel, president of the independent investigative journalism organization ProPublica, gave a talk on investigative journalism in the digital age
In this one hour long talk Richard Tofel, president of the Pulitzer Prize-winning non-profit news organization ProPublica , surveys the evolving business model of investigative journalism in the digital era. “The digital revolution is not just disrupting, but is actually destroying the business models that produced nearly all of the quality journalism in the quarter century after Watergate,” Tofel said. All areas of traditional reporting have been affected by the decline in newspaper revenues, but investigative reporting is even more susceptible because to budget cuts it is more expensive, Tofel explained. According to Tofel, one solution to this problem is organisations like ProPublica, a non-profit entity funded largely by donations, especially on a time when traditional business model do not function anymore. Investigative reporting - Tofel added - may ultimately be considered a public good, thus requires public financing.
How do you keep it going? How do you raise the money? How do you manage the people? How do you manage the external communications and development?
