The journalism category on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter offers unique insight into the new ideas in journalism readers are willing to put their own hard earned money behind. It also reveals a new class of journalist entrepreneurs who are stepping outside the confines of mainstream publications to create their own content businesses focusing on the topics they care about most. It is not entirely clear which will survive in our attention deficit age, but it is illuminating to see which ideas readers are rooting for.
Here is a quick tour of successful past projects and a few new projects that are hoping to get your attention and your money.
Top funded journalism projects
In late 2012, 2,566 backers pledged $140,201 to bring Matter to life, the most ever pledged to a Kickstarter journalism campaign. People responded to the promise by founders Bobbie Johnson and Jim Giles to bring them ‘the story you’ve been missing’. Matter specializes in long-form articles about science, technology, medicine and the environment and was acquired in April 2013 by Medium, a new publishing platform established by Twitter founder Ev Williams.
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