How Loud Does the Watchdog Bark? A Reconsideration of Local Journalism, News Non-profits, and Political Corruption

Usher, Nikki; Kim-Leffingwell, Sanghoon

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4096246

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…This can make a nonprofit news organization a civically valuable part of a local community while maintaining editorial control (Ferrucci and Alaimo, 2020). The presence of well-funded nonprofit news organizations is related with increased prosecution of public corruption suggesting nonprofit status can empower journalists to act as watchdogs (Usher and Kim-Leffingwell, 2022). We, therefore, wish to investigate the relationship between a campaign’s stated profit orientation and its funding success, and ask:…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stated professional orientation, identity, and technical proficiency of journalists as predictors of the success of journalism crowdfunding campaigns

2022

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In the journalism community’s constant search for alternative funding sources, Crowdfunding emerged as a promising mechanism that possibly allows new voices and approaches to secure funding for journalism. In this study, we content analyzed 627 journalistic crowdfunding pitches as a form of metajournalistic discourse and the funding public’s reaction to them as expressed in their funding decisions. Drawing on the journalism studies literature, we consider whether the stated journalistic orientation of the proposed project, the occupational and demographic identity of the campaign creator, and the technical proficiency of the crowdfunding pitch can predict funding success. We find that although technical aspects related to how the pitch was crafted and promoted are the strongest predictors of success, certain journalistic orientations, such as promising to conduct investigative journalism, can contribute somewhat to a project’s success. Data show that while self-identification as journalists, nonprofits, and the location of the proposed projects were strongly associated with crowdfunding success, creators’ gender and ethnic identity were not associated with success.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%