Bitcoin Forum

disclaimer: I'm not a journalist so there are better opinions needed

It seems to me that journalism is one area that can really benefit from bitcoin. Here is why........ currently if a journalist wants to make an online professional career out of journalism they have to blog. Essentially they have to make money through advertising........ but that is an inefficient way to make money. Someone who loves your article may not click on any of the advertisements. And even if they do click it may not be in proportion to their level of interest. It seems to me that the ability to just bitcoin tip anyone on the net will make professional journalism have a natural kinship with bitcoin.

What may be needed is a site that congregates professional journalists and even gives them ranks. So it would be like an online version of the washington post but it could be done totally ad free. If such a thing was viable, then it might attract the best journalists with the best stories since they could make decent money. Possibly

Just a thought.

Seems very possible, seeing as this guy (http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/18kt6y/psa_to_new_users_due_to_reddit_gold_announcement/) just got a total of $30 in BTC tips for his well-written post (albeit on the Bitcoin subreddit).

Back before I joined Bitcoin Magazine, I was writing (really, the sole writer) for a site called Bitcoin Weekly. When the owner of the site (kiba) ran out of money to maintain the site and pay contributors, I came up with an interesting business model. Every week I would write two articles, and kiba would release summaries of the articles together with a Bitcoin address and "ransom". When the ransom was paid, he would release the content. The mechanism actually worked pretty decently, earning me about $3-$6 per hour for my work. There are actually lots of cool and untested business models that Bitcoin, especially together with Bitcointip, can make possible. Just go out and try it!

"I came up with an interesting business model"?

The ability for a journalist to have a different Bitcoin address for each Article would also bring a possibility of direct feedback to the readers. Allowing him to directly develop his writings in the direction that suits him best. Like "People seem to really enjoy my interviews but a not so flattered by my write-ups".


Would also be interesting to see if 100 sites reporting about britneys new boob job really earn more than 1 political debate.

[shameless ad]A small scale example about this bitcoin-voting is The Bitfilm-Festival (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=138374.0) were you can vote for your favourite independent movie with Bitcoins[/shameless ad]

Flattr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flattr) and the like have already been existing for a while, but Bitcoin of course takes less fees.  ;)