Saving the Media: Capitalism, Crowdfunding, and Democracy by Julia Cagé

Author:Julia Cagé [Cagé, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Social Science, Media Studies, Business & Economics, Industries, Media & Communications, Political Science, Political Economy, Nonprofit Organizations & Charities, General, Crowdfunding, Capitalism
ISBN: 9780674659759
Google: zWiXjgEACAAJ
Amazon: 0674659759
Goodreads: 29780998
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2016-04-03T23:00:00+00:00

3

A NEW MODEL FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Can’t we imagine a press owned in a disinterested way by a vast society of readers to which each member would contribute regularly, or else by a foundation of the sort that is so common in the United States? In the latter case, the generous donors would of course forfeit the right and ability to intervene in the management of the newspaper. They would thus demonstrate, to their advantage, the purity of their intentions and place themselves beyond suspicion.

—Hubert Beuve-Méry Ambassadors’ Lecture, 1956

ONE CAN ALWAYS DREAM. Indeed, with many news outlets now mired in crisis, it has become imperative to think of new models for the media. The one I will propose here is based on crowdfunding and power-sharing. I hope that it may serve as a new economic and legal template for the media of the twenty-first century, a template that combines aspects of both a joint-stock company and a foundation. Let us call this new entity a nonprofit media organization (NMO).

The debate about the legal status of media organizations is not new, but in the age of the Internet and crowdfunding, new thinking is required. To begin, it is useful to recall some mistakes of the past, starting with the experience of newspapers that have become publicly held corporations.

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