A La Carte Journalism: Where People (and Reporters) Set the Agenda

[Commentary] The conundrum in journalism today is that most people are not willing to pay anything for content. At the same time, there is a small pool of consumers that is willing to pay a large amount of money to see a story covered or content produced on a specific topic. So what do journalists and media organizations do? Tap into the generosity of a few to fund production for many.

As “On the Media's” Brooke Gladstone pointed out recently, "consumer surplus" is the latest, and arguably one of the most successful ways, to pay for media productions. This is the reason for the success of independent crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. In a journalism landscape where it is getting harder and harder to obtain revenue through page views and subscriptions, perhaps carefully cultivating and pursuing your audience, however esoteric, may not be such a bad idea. With crowdfunding, these same journalists can sell their journalism directly to readers without news organizations as mediators. Perhaps more importantly, it could be a model for true a la carte journalism consumption.