Saving the World from Fake News and Vanishing Journalism…the Civil Token Sale

TL:DR; Journalism is under assault from the economic/business model side as well as the veracity side. Civil, a cutting-edge blockchain project, aims to change that. Join the Civil Token Sale to support the initiative to save journalism. (see disclosure at bottom)

Admittedly, back in my earliest days, I may have drunk a wee bit too much Kool-Aid.
However, in the category of places where blockchain could actually save the world comes the crypto solution to Fake News.

Civil, a blockchain project that is seeking to use crypto-economics to both empower journalists economically while protecting them from censorship, is seeking to offer that solution. Here’s their video.

I’ve known Matt, the founder of Civil for over a year now, and I can say I find him to be genuinely and passionately concerned about the state of affairs in the US (and globally)…and we haven’t even chatted in a while, so I’m sure it’s heightened now.

I’ve featured them on this blog a few times and in an article I wrote for the Weekly Standard, How Blockchain Will Disrupt Colleges, the Media, and Unions, Too
What Matt and the team saw was an opportunity to address many of the problems facing today’s outdated business model and I think it’s worth a look.

Join the Civil Token Sale
They are in the middle of their token sale and you have an opportunity to help support this. Join the Civil Token Sale.

Disclosure: it’s an affiliate link so I do get rewarded with tokens if you buy, but you also get a$100 bonus.
As always, do your research and make your own decision.
What Civil is Doing Already

This week, they announced the four newest additions to the growing Civil Newsroom network — and have officially extended Civil’s footprint into Latin America, including the only English-language site in Cuba that is totally out of the reach of government censors

• 14ymedio (in Spanish; see its English language version here)
• Dromómanos (Spanish language only)
• The GroundTruth Project
• The Blackness (Newsroom coming in late 2018)

Here’s a bit more from their newsletter that will give you a great understanding of what kinds of things are happening on the site already…all produced by journalists working directly for the readers, not for advertisers.

In addition to the above Newsrooms, we want to recognize Global Ground, a Newsroom dedicated to stories of global significance that surprise, inform or set the record straight. We first announced the Newsroom earlier this year; this week it published its first story — an in-depth, heartbreaking look at the complexities of microfinance programs, and how they’re contributing to a suicide epidemic among farmers in rural India.

Here’s a brief look at what else Civil Newsrooms covered this week:

• New legislation in the NYC Council. An elections complaint submitted by a watchdog group to the Board of Elections. Donations returned from white supremacist candidates. Sludge shared an impressive retrospective on the impact its reporting has made in its first three-plus months of existence.

• John Urschel, an NFL star-turned-mathematician, spoke with HmmDaily about his unconventional career path, from the gridiron to pursuing a Ph.D. in applied math at MIT.

• ZigZag will return for season two on October 11! They shared this teaser trailer this week.

• The leading anti-cannabis organization in the U.S. is raising unprecedented money ahead of the coming midterm elections. Cannabis Wire looked at where it’s spending, and why.

• Families with Temporary Protected Status are preparing for an uncertain future. Documented took a deeper look at some of the impacted individuals, and how they’re preparing.

• Chicago is bracing for unrest, reports Block Club Chicago, as the city awaits a verdict in the trial of the first Chicago police officer charged with murder in decades. [update: as of 4:43 ET, he was convicted of murder]

• The Colorado Sun broke a jarring story about the deeply unethical efforts of one opioid company to spread pain pills around the state.

• One step forward, two steps back? Philadelphia has made important strides to rid itself of its “Filthadelphia” moniker in recent years, but the city still has a long way to go, says ecoEWURD.

• On a related note, Popula published a profile on ecoWURD’s Martin Pratt, who talks about the evolution of his young newsroom, and how it’s propelled him into becoming an environmental activist. It’s the first in a series of features Popula will run on some of the people behind other Civil Newsrooms.

• Jumaane Williams joined the FAQ NYC podcast this week to reflect on his nearly being elected Lieutenant Governor to his foil, Andrew Cuomo — and why he’s hopeful that change is still coming to Albany.

I don’t know if Civil will solve the problem of Fake News and vanishing local journalism (what they call ‘news deserts’), but I am certainly rooting for them….and supporting them to do it.

You can as well by Joining the Civil Token Sale

Disclosure: it’s an affiliate link so I do get rewarded with tokens if you buy, but you also get a$100 bonus.
As always, do your research and make your own decision.