Wikitribune - Fixing News
The internet has heralded many innovations, but for me, none has been more successful than Wikipedia. It's truly a wonder of the world, no less than the Library of Alexandria was nearly 2,500 years ago. Over the last 15 years, Wikimedia Foundation has built a financially sustainable, universal and decentralized repository of information. It's not perfect, but it's as close as you can get while human remain biased. Recently, we have seen some blockchain solutions targeting Wikipedia, but they are doomed to fail - this is a not a problem and does not need a solution.
The co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, is back with a solution to a problem that does need fixing - News.
As you may expect, Wikitribune is pretty much Wikipedia for news. Of course, unlike Wikipedia which collects information from around the internet and paper sources, Wikitribune does require people with original sources gathering news. Or, journalists. To start with, Wikitribune will hire 10 journalists.
Of course, it'll not just be these journalists participating. Anyone can view the source, question the source and the fact, contribute their own sources, etc. The community will be responsible for breaking down any bias from the journalists and with widespread contributions the idea is to get close to objective facts - just like Wikipedia did. (No, it doesn't matter what you believe, facts are constant.)
Based on a similar donation based model as Wikipedia, Wikitribune will feature no ads, no paywalls. Wikipedia has proven highly sustainable whilst using traditional donation models, and Wikitribune promises to be no different. Within a couple of days, Wikitribune has raised over 40% of its initial target, with 26 days to go.
I have donated to Wikitribune, and I strongly encourage you to do the same. I shall also be donating monthly going forward if I find the content is as unbiased as I expect. Journalism in our world is deeply broken, and this seems like the best attempt so far to fix it.
Go here for more details - https://www.wikitribune.com/
Put it on Steemit, Jimmy!
Thanks for surfacing. Very interesting and I will keep on eye on it.
Btw, the landing page is marketing at its best. 2 minutes and I loved the product (or the promise of it) already.
Yes, it's pitch perfect! It's one page which everything you need to know delivered as concisely as possible. The video is just as well made, hits on all the right notes. I believe it was made by Kirby Ferguson (I recommend his other documentary films Everything is a Remix and the in-progress This is Not a Conspiracy Theory).
the problem with wikipedia, like with anything else is politics.
any one can publish a lie..then when that lie is corrected they go back and republish it.
Common in the globul wurming community. some articles have been edited hundreds of times..by the same person...many times a day. facts don't matter.
wikipedia is great for anything not controversial...gimme a minute and I think of something that isn't
nothing is perfect