Several months ago I read an item about a journalist who raised a few thousand dollars through reader contributions on his weblog to finance his trip to some location. I thought I blogged it, but now I can’t find it, and I need it for inclusion in a report I’m editing on participatory journalism. (And no, it’s not Andrew Sullivan.)
Can anyone remember the episode and send me a pointer?
Later: Well, I just stumbled upon it myself: Freelance journalist-blogger David Appel appealed to his readers readers to let him to pursue an investigative story.
Still later: Patrick Phillips of IWantMedia and Joseph L. Hall both emailed to jog my memory about Back to Iraq. Christopher Allbritton reported breaking war news from Iraq on his Web site, funded by 320 people who donated $14,334. Business Week Online asks: Are pay-to-read sites the future of journalism? (Steve Levy mentioned it here.)
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
This type of arrangement is similar, although not identical, to the model where I work (The Center for Public Integrity). We are a grant-funded and individual-supported non-profit and we get money to investigate certain topics as well as donations for general support. I’m not involved in fundraising, but I can tell you that it’s very rewarding as a journalist to know that there are people interested enough to give you money to promote good journalism.