10 revenue streams funding investigative

journalism
A look at four investigative journalism start-ups Matter, Exaro, ThaiPublica
and The Muckraker publishing to digital platforms
Investigative journalism is expensive. Journalists may spend months working on a story, travelling around
the world to speak to key sources. Some lines of enquiry may lead to dead ends, and others result in
legal costs once published.

Few would dispute the importance of ensuring such stories are told, but can digital platforms, which can
be notoriously difficult places to make journalism pay, support such costly ventures?

Some investigative journalism sites, such as not-for-profit ProPublica, are funded largely through
philanthropic donations, but what revenue streams have potential for those without generous donors with
deep pockets? And can businesses become sustainable and make a profit when the product is
investigative journalism?

Here we look at 10 different revenue streams tried and tested by four investigative journalism start-ups,
each launched within the past two years.

Meet the four investigative journalism startups

Matter
Matter offers long-form articles on science and technology. After successfullyraising $140,000 on
Kickstarter, the start-up produces one long-form article a month, and charges readers $0.99. It has also
brought in revenue through syndication. Earlier this year Matter was acquired by blogging platform
Medium.

Exaro
Exaro had some funding to get it going and, until a fortnight ago, had a paywall. That was pulled
down and the aim is now to make money through providing add-on data services to City businesses. Like
Matter, Exaro has also had some success with syndication. It has had a number of big scoops since it
launched in November 2011, including the story of a secret recording of Rupert Murdoch in which he
intimated he had knowledge of the practice of his journalists paying for information.

ThaiPublica
Inspired by US Pulitzer-winning non-profit ProPublica, ThaiPublica focuses on business investigations in
Thailand. It got started with some grant funding and now brings in the majority of its revenue through
hosting sponsor-supported conferences. It also hosts banner ads on its website and has grant funding for
specific projects, such as the creation of interactives.

The Muckraker
The Muckraker reports on untold stories in Northern Ireland and operates a freemium model: the blog
offers taster extracts while long-form investigations are available through digital magazine The
Muckracker Report for 3. The launch issue was published this summer. Stories are all written by Lyra
McKee so this could be seen as a freelance journalist funding her investigations.

10 revenue streams

1. Reader-funded

Matter and The Muckracker both look to readers for revenue. Matter charges $0.99 per long-form story;
The Muckraker Report digital magazine is priced at 3. Readers can also take out annual subscriptions.

Both publications have opted for a micropayment system for digital access, and Matter is also available
on Amazon as an ebook and via Audible as an audio edition.

And the maths? Matter charges $0.99 per article and each story costs between $12,000 and $15,000 to
produce, estimates Bobbie Johnson, Matter's co-founder. Johnson told us Matter has not yet at broken
even but they are making progress and subscriber numbers are growing.

Articles are a minimum of 5,000 words and the journalist gets a flat fee of $7,500 per article, which works
out at $1.50 a word, and pays for two or three months of hard work. Writers retain the the copyright, with
Matter licensing the story. In addition to the journalist's fee, there are travel costs, plus the cost of a
freelance editor and copy editor.

The Muckracker Report is a much smaller enterprise than Matter, being the sole work of 23 year old Lyra
McKee. McKee said she opted for a 100 per cent reader-funded business model to avoid potential
conflicts with advertisers.

She makes 2.69 from every issue sold. The first issue raised nearly 200 which was donated to a
Northern Ireland rape crisis centre, the subject of the first issue.

2. Crowd-funded

Crowdfunding is how Matter got going. It raised an impressive $140,000 on Kickstarter, which was
enough to prove there was an interest in such a publication being brought into fruition.

The Muckracker is also planning a crowdfunding exercise. But rather than taking to Kickstarter or another
platform, it is asking for 3 per person for a monthly subscription. The idea is not unlike how social
platform App.net was crowdfunded, gathering $50 from early backers in return for an account.

3. Ad-funded

Anyone with experience in digital journalism will know that it is a challenge to make banners and buttons
on websites provide sufficient revenue to fund the journalism they publish.

ThaiPublica does host digital ads, and although it brings in some revenue this way, the majority of income
comes from other sources.

4. Paywall

Until last month Exaro had a paywall, primarily aimed at corporates buying multiple licenses for employee
access rather than individuals.

That was pulled down in August so the newly-appointed commercial director could focus on selling data
services rather than subscriptions.

In theory both Matter and The Muckraker Report have sites with paywalls, charging readers and offering
the content in return. In practice both are more like buying an individual publication, with many readers
reading on a tablet device, which are well-suited to long-form articles.

5. Conferences

Conferences are how ThaiPublica brings in the majority of its revenue. The site has created what it calls
ThaiPublica Forum. It hosts a conference every three or four months around "important topics that are in
the public interest", founder of the Thai site Sarinee Achavanuntakul told us.

The conferences are sponsored, and the journalists use their connections to arrange speakers. They are
also attended by reporters from other outlets, with the resulting press attention an appeal for sponsors.

6. Syndication


Syndication does not raise enough revenue to cover the costs of what is
expensive journalism, but it makes a significant contribution to itMark Watts,
Exaro
Matter and Exaro have had some successes in selling editorial content. Matter has syndicated excerpts
and stories to a number of publishers.

Johnson told us they are "particularly finding foreign syndication deals are successful and more palatable
to publishers," explaining that some UK and US publisher feel that they would be competing with Matter.

Mark Watts, editor-in-chief of Exaro, told us "syndication does not raise enough revenue to cover the
costs of what is expensive journalism, but it makes a significant contribution to it".

7. Data services

After pulling down the paywall, the monetisation strategy for Exaro is via add-on data services.

These services make use of underlying data Exaro tracks and collects. For example, Exaro's insolvency
index could be a valuable data service for City businesses, as Watts explains in this article.

"We are doing a form of data journalism," Watts said, "and that underlying data has value to certain areas
of business."

8. Grant-funded

Although ThaiPublica is building a business model around the forum, it is also receiving some grant
funding to pay for the creation of interactives.

Conferences and advertising pay the fixed costs, such as salaries, "but we don't have money left over to
invest in transforming journalists", Achavanuntakul explained.

Lyra McKee from The Muckraker is also applying for a grant to allow her to carry out a specific
investigation. She has applied to the Arthur Guinness Project for a grant to allow her the time and travel
funds to investigate the death of a Northern Ireland MP murdered in 1981.

9. Philanthropy

Philanthropic donations are another option for investigative news sites and non-profit outlets. ProPublica
has found success in this form of donation, as has theTexas Tribune, which also attracts some grant
funding. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in the UK, "where philanthropically-funded journalism is
rare", as it states on its site, also has such donors.

ThaiPublica relied on funding from "patrons" who enabled the site to launch.

10. Acquisition

Not a revenue stream per se, but this development relates to Matter, which was acquired by Medium
earlier this year.

The acquisition has allowed Matter to focus on its "long-term security", Johnson told us.

"It allows us to focus on the future rather than on the day-to-day; they are helping us carry out our plan,
but what we are no longer doing is operating on the breadline."

Before the acquisition "each story would generate revenue that would pay for the next story, now we have
a war chest that allows us to think a bit further ahead", he said.

And that investment means Matter will soon be hiring a couple of full-time staff, potentially leaning less on
freelance editors.

There is more on Matter here, more on ThaiPublica here, more on Exaro andmore on The MuckRacker
Report.