Collaboration emerges as an effective business model

Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have said just before signing the Declaration of Independence, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” News publishers have taken this idea to heart with a trend toward collaborating as a means of survival when so many economic forces are working against them. […]

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How to be more credible, from an investigative reporter

Tina Kaiser. Photo by Gisela Gürtler News organizations have been losing credibility for years, and the reasons are many. Too often, we journalists have been arrogant and said, in effect, Trust us, we know what we’re doing. But today, journalism is under attack, and we have to explain why people should trust us. Versión en […]

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Investigative journalism: great return on investment

Between fines and recovered funds, journalists get results Lately a couple of us here at the University of Navarra have been looking for models of high-quality journalism that are sustainable. As it turns out, many of the best news organizations that are thriving are doing investigative journalism. Readers like this type of journalism, which holds […]

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This hub nurtures investigative journalism in LatAm

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Independent news media in Latin America often lack the financial resources to act as a counterweight to the political powers and multinational businesses in the region. But these media, many of them digital natives, have found that by banding together they can multiply their scarce resources and magnify their impact beyond their […]

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Loyal users will pay for watchdog journalism

Kinsey Wilson. Photo by Mary Kang/Knight Center AUSTIN, Texas — One of the dirty little secrets in digital media is that the big numbers of page views and unique users touted by publishers are misleading at best. They overstate a publication’s audience size and impact. Most visitors to a publisher’s content are fly-bys: They stay […]

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Panama Papers: Lone-wolf journalists form a pack

Investigative journalists have achieved a new level of sophistication and collaboration as shown by this explosive investigation of offshore tax havens used by the wealthy and powerful. The investigation by 109 media organizations from 76 countries has shaken government leaders from China to Russia to Great Britain. It has led to the resignation of the prime minister of […]

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ProPublica pioneers investigative journalism for the digital age

PAMPLONA, Spain — Given all the trash, half-truths and outright lies published on digital media, people are placing a higher value on media that verify information and demonstrate high ethical standards. Paul Steiger, taking questions at U. of Navarra event Paul Steiger, founder and executive chairman of ProPublica, tells of a major donor to his […]

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