Community Funded Reporting? Funded Reporting?!

In the wake of massive layoffs and shrinking newsholes…it’s been looking bleak for reporters. ‘Exposure’ is not a paycheck. ‘Great opportunity’ does not pay the rent. ‘Credit’ doesn’t pay off interest.

Anyway, we found this site while trolling on Twitter.

They explain themselves:

Spot.Us is a nonprofit project to pioneer “community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission investigations with tax deductible donations for important and perhaps overlooked stories. If a news organization buys exclusive rights to the content, donations are reimbursed. Otherwise content is made available through a Creative Commons license.

Could this be the future of print journalism? The public television/radio model? If newspapers aren’t making a profit should they just all go nonprofit?

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