- Chapter 6 -

Entrepreneurial journalism in a digital world

As newspapers and the news industry as a whole struggle to develop a profitable online business model, there have been concerns as to the future of quality news and especially investigative journalism, as it is costly to produce. But despite some doom and gloom over the future of quality reporting, most editors remain convinced that the Internet is opening the way to new methods of investigation and news coverage. At the forefront of this evolution, investigative non-profits, online pure-players and other recently launched news organisations are venturing into new digital formats for news and creating new reporting processes through collaboration with their readers.

Wikileaks: Providing the ultimate protection for sources. Founded in late 2006, Wikileaks publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive documents from governments and other sources, and protects these sources' anonymity, thus providing investigative journalists with a potentially powerful resource. The site was forced to close temporarily in early 2010, when it ran out of money: it survives off public donations. It was reopened in February 2010 however, when it announced that it had received its minimum fundraising target of $200,000. The whistle-blower site made headlines in April 2010 when it released a video showing a Reuter's journalist and photographer, as well as 10 other people, being killed by gunfire from a US army helicopter, which was soon reported in the New York Times.

Annarbor.com: tough start : The transition from being a print to an online newspaper hasn't fared smoothly for all. In July 2009, after having rolled of the printing presses for 174 years, the Ann Arbour News in the US (Michigan) folded its print edition. In his farewell letter to readers, Editor Ed Petykiewicz warned local readers not to let newspapers disappear completely, as "They're the only ones who separate the self-serving spin by public officials from what's really happening." The print newspaper was replaced by the online-only AnnArbour.com, which planned to employ 30 to 35 newsroom staff. However readers were quick to criticise the rather raw design of the site. Despite its rough start however, Annarbour.com enrolled a number of community bloggers to write about niche topics, in an effort to provide quality coverage comparable to the much missed print edition.

Portugal's newest daily newspaper, i, was launched in May 2009 and attracted a significant amount of attention due to its rising circulation figures and innovative approach. How is a new print newspaper seemingly thriving in a difficult market?