Beyond clickbait and commerce

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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
Clare Cook References Alesina, Alberto and Dollar, David (2000) Who gives foreign aid to whom and why?, Journal of Economic Growth, Vol. 5, No. 1 pp 33-63 Barnett, Steven and Townend, Judith (2015) Media power and plurality: From hyperlocal to high-level policy, London, Palgrave Macmillan Batsell, Jake (2015) Engaged journalism: Connecting with digitally empowered news audiences, New York, Columbia University Press Beam, Randal (2003) Content differences between daily newspapers with strong and weak market orientations, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 2 pp 368-390 Becker, Jorg (2011) Coverage of the Tibet crisis and the Olympic Games in China in the German-language mass media, International Communication Gazette, Vol. 73 pp 495-506 Becker, Lee and Vlad, Tudor (2009) Funding for freedom of expression organizations. Report of a Survey of IFEX Members. Available online at http://www. ifex.org/international/2009/07/08/cox_center_funding.pdf, accessed on 1 January 2016 Becker, Lee, Hollifield, Ann, Jacobsson, Adam, Jacobsson, Eva-Maria, Vlad, Tudor (2009) Is more always better? Examining the adverse effects of competition on media performance, Journalism Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3 pp 368-385 Berthelemy, Jean Claude (2006) Aid allocation: Competing donors’ behaviours, Swedish Economic Policy Review, Vol. 13 pp 75-109 Berger, Guy (2010) Problematizing ‘media development’ as a bandwagon gets rolling, International Communication Gazette, Vol. 72, No. 7 pp 547-565 Bratic, Vladimir (2006) Media effects during violent conflict: Evaluating media contributions to peace building, Conflict and Communication Online, Vol. 4, No. 2. Available online at http://www.cco.regener-online.de/, accessed on 18 January 2016 Brunetti, Aymo and Weder, Beatrice (2003) A free press is bad news for corruption, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 87, No. 7 pp 1801-1824 Cauhape-Cazaux, Eduardo and Kalathil, Shanthi (2015) Official development assistance for media: Figures and findings, CIMA. Available online at http:// www.oecd.org/dac/governance-peace/publications/documentuploads/CIMA.pdf, accessed on 1 December 2015 Cook, Clare (2016, forthcoming) Fragile finance: The revenue models of oppositional news outlets in repressive regimes, International Communication Gazette, Vol. 78, No. 6 pp 1-22 Chowdhury, Shayamal (2004) Do democracy and press freedom reduce corruption? Evidence from a crosscountry study. ZEF. Available online at http:// www.zef.de/uploads/tx_zefportal/Publications/zef_dp85.pdf, accessed on 1 December 2015 CIMA (2007) Toward economic sustainability of the media in developing countries, CIMA. Available online at http://www.cima.ned.org/resource/toward-economicsustainability-of-the-media-in-developing-countries/, accessed on 1 December 2015 Deane, James (2013) Fragile states: The role of media and communication – policy briefing, BBC Media Action. Available online at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/ mediaaction/policybriefing/fragile_states_policy_briefing.pdf, accessed on 1 December 2015 FOJO (2013) Independent media in exile: A baseline consultation, FOJO Media Institute. Available online at http://www.intermedia.org/wp-content/ uploads/2013/06/Fojo_Exile_Media_FINAL_PUBLISHED_REPORT_19-06-13.pdf, accessed on 1 December 2015 78 Copyright 2016-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 13, No 2/3 2016
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Beyond clickbait and commerce The e
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Contents Editorial Looking beyond t
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EDITORIAL Looking beyond the tradit
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These questions of independence are
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of the work produced by foundation-
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Crisis Center, for example, has a g
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library that spotlights progress in
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journalists working on the developm
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Note on the contributor Dr Mel Bunc
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2014). One response has been to par
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and/or distributed by ENGOs to mobi
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democratic dissent’, while DeLuca
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ecording the interviews, I engaged
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spent two weeks collecting images a
Page 30 and 31: Although photographs of spirit bear
Page 32 and 33: up the article ‘Pipeline through
Page 34 and 35: Alexandra Garcia, iLCP communicatio
Page 36 and 37: killed/, accessed on 27 December 20
Page 38 and 39: Dave Harte ‘Tell it like it is’
Page 40 and 41: Veronica Coatham and Lisa Martinali
Page 42 and 43: which content its audience is most
Page 44 and 45: in the 1990s and early 2000s. Borge
Page 46 and 47: in Leeds, he notes the valuable rol
Page 48 and 49: Yet the nature of the journalism at
Page 50 and 51: Foucault, Michel (1980) Power/Knowl
Page 52 and 53: Unitec research colleagues; media p
Page 54 and 55: voice in seven unique contexts was
Page 56 and 57: therefore, challenging to strike th
Page 58 and 59: 7 The Pacifica Mamas, ‘matriarchs
Page 60 and 61: sharing approach to collaboration,
Page 62 and 63: programme, and they wanted the spot
Page 64 and 65: and that I was entrusting myself to
Page 66 and 67: ecosystem (Cooren 2015b). In a 2015
Page 68 and 69: Saifoloi, Malama, Stowers-Ama, Jarc
Page 70 and 71: informed citizenry. Most see journa
Page 72 and 73: While there is no universally accep
Page 74 and 75: news organisation are decisions to
Page 76 and 77: is largely seen as unethical to ask
Page 78 and 79: open to paying for content. Others
Page 82 and 83: Foster, Michelle (2012) Calling the
Page 84 and 85: Judith Townend ‘Charitable journa
Page 86 and 87: In the second category, where the r
Page 88 and 89: Among the issues is the Charity Com
Page 90 and 91: House of Lords (2012) House of Lord
Page 92 and 93: press in a democracy to campaign, l
Page 94 and 95: The tribunal’s decision For the p
Page 96 and 97: charitable journalism may be recogn
Page 98 and 99: Denis Muller Conflict of interest:
Page 100 and 101: Tanner et al. (2005: 187) identify
Page 102 and 103: to its audiences. To engage in jour
Page 104 and 105: creating a commercial climate in wh
Page 106 and 107: that a sponsor would have no role i
Page 108 and 109: Items about Dove not labelled as sp
Page 110 and 111: their public-interest responsibilit
Page 112 and 113: Murtha, Jack and Gourarie, Chava (2
Page 114 and 115: Recognising the shadow elements of
Page 116 and 117: admits that ‘systematic’ may be
Page 118 and 119: Rather than ethics being an issue t
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