Beyond clickbait and commerce

Conclusions
Overall, oppositional news outlets are tailoring their ethical
checklist based on shifting goal-posts. The paper finds that nonprofit
oppositional media are faced with a unique set of pragmatic
challenges as they wean themselves off grant dependency.
Perspectives shift between commercial reluctance and commercial
reconciliation, all the while grappling with the legitimisation of
grant funding. A priority was to remain independent and avoid
economic corruption, associated with buying editorial control or
lack of transparency from bribes or donations. This was expected
despite a lack of transparency in what funding is received from
whom.
From the cases here, reliance on grants is particularly entrenched
and strategic. There are power relations and tensions between
grant organisations, consultants and grantees. Despite warnings
and efforts on the part of donor organisations to prepare outlets
for funding changes, many are economically fragile. Overall grant
funding is seen as ethical when approached from the perspective
of necessity: where market forces prevent other revenues, and as
a way of achieving distance from corruption or editorial control.
Grant income is further justified where commercial activity
compromises editorial values. Soft control in terms of spending
restrictions, and media outlets altering their editorial priorities or
projects to fit grants, have not featured heavily in driving emerging
value sets. While grant organisations have complex criteria for
allocating funding, this is at least in part based on size of audience
and quality of production, which are also factors likely to affect
earned income potential.
RESEARCH
PAPER
However, with income generation a more pressing concern, several
outlets are now reconciling new pragmatic and ethical frameworks.
An advertising network was seen as the most ethically robust as
it acted as an ‘ethical gatekeeper’ between commercial and
editorial operations. Others were attempting to diversify content
production into soft stories in order to be more ‘advertiser friendly’.
Crowdfunding was a revenue source in two cases around a specific
project with a campaign aimed out of country. Overall attitudes to
commercial revenue-generation are shifting.
This paper offers a glimpse into ethical concerns of revenue
generation for non-profit oppositional news outlets. It was not
possible from the approach taken here to accurately contextualise
whether wider funding changes represent commercial diminution
of these publication’s role, or indeed reflect shifting complexities
in the identity of what oppositional news media are in an evermore
fragmented information space. Nor is it possible to assess any
correlation between funding models and broader impact measures.
Further consideration should include the ethical development and
corresponding revenue potential of new distribution channels.
Copyright 2016-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 13, No 2/3 2016 77