Client News: Spot.us Launched Crowdfunded Journalism
November 10th, 2008 by emily
We’re pleased as punch to announce our favorite pro-bono client, spot.us, launched to the public today! Some words from the founder, David Cohn:
The problem: Revenue.
Journalism is a process not a product, but that process takes time and people who do it professionally need to be compensated.
The Solution: Community Funding.
The process of journalism should be participatory – and perhaps one way it can be made participatory is if the public has the opportunity to commission the journalism they want to see.
How’s it work? Simple.
Something on your mind about your local area (or national, but not yet)? Maybe you’ve wondered why the streets of your city are in such poor condition while your local taxes are so high. Or perhaps you recall a massive oil spill in the past year yet see kids playing on the local beaches and aren’t sure how safe it really is. Whatever your concern may be, spot.us is a place where you can raise an issue, and let the community fund the story.
If the funds arise, then a journalist will (hopefully) take up the plight of the huddled masses, and research then report on their findings. Spot.us can also help the journalist get their story covered by more outlets. There’s a lot more to it than that, but you can just go check out the site to see how easy it is.
Stage Two has supported David Cohn since he first conceptualized the idea. He’s funded the idea through raising funds as a non-profit, and we pledged our pro-bono support to help get the word out once the site was ready. Congrats Dave!
Some of the coverage so far:
- TechCrunch
- Susan Mernit
- Mathew Ingram
- Poynter
- Wired
- The Daily Green
- SmartMobs
- S Neil Vineberg
- eat sleep publish
- Nerd Stalker
- By Daniel Victor
- PBS (contributed by David Cohn
