Down, but Not Out - Podcast Series

"Innovation is not just a buzzword used by tech companies and business gurus. Sometimes, it's about finding new ways to survive and prosper in difficult conditions."

Down, but Not Out is a podcast mini-series on innovation in journalism that looks at a range of media organisations from around the world who were pushed to be creative in the face of hardship. The series builds on the work of the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS)'s Journalism Breakthroughs project, which works to more methodically collect data and information about innovation in journalism and improve the ways (formats, channels, and frequency) in which it packages and disseminates this content for broader consumption.

The episodes were created, and in most cases hosted, by Justin Spike, a Budapest, Hungary-based freelance journalist who contributes to 444.hu and The Associated Press, and Dumitrița Holdiș, a member of the CMDS team.

The episodes are as follows:

Episode 1: Political Interference and Reader Solidarity: The Story of Index and Telex in Hungary (March 4 2021) - This first episode of the series explores the story of Telex, a media organisation that was willed into being by its founders when one of Hungary's flagship media outlets was pushed to the brink of collapse by government pressure. When almost all of Index's 90-member staff resigned, they set out to start their own organisation and to fund it through reader contributions. In the first month of their crowdfunding campaign, they collected 1 million Euros from their readers.

Episode 2: Synthesising Journalism and Art in Belarus and Jordan (March 18 2021) - This episode looks at two media organisations that overcame geographical distance to report on their homes from abroad. They also created a synthesis of different art forms and journalism and became critical voices and sources of information for their public. In two parts, the podcast tells the story of the Belarus Free Theatre, an underground theatre company, and Al-Hudood, a satirical news site, to demonstrate how journalism can transform critical art forms and political activism. Guest speakers are Nikolai Khalezin, artistic director at the Belarus Free Theatre, and Isam Uraiqat, co-founder and director of Al-Hudood.

Episode 3: Journalism Cooperatives and Subscription Newsletters. Power in the Hands of Journalists (April 12 2021) - This episode asks the question: Can journalism cooperatives and subscription newsletters put power back in the hands of journalists? Answering this question are Maria Bustillos, journalist and co-founder of the Brick House, a collectively owned journalism cooperative, and Walker Bragman, a New York, United States (US)-based journalist who discusses the advantages of publishing on Substack, a newsletter platform established in 2017 that allows writers to distribute their work to subscribers at tiered subscription rates.

Episode 4: On How to Launch a Paywall in 2002 and Live to Tell the Story (April 29 2021) - Founded in 1999, Malaysiakini is one of Malaysia's most popular news sites. In 2002, still a medium-sized organisation with 20 staff members, making money mostly from advertising and other services, Malaysiakini decided to introduce a paywall at a time when internet access, credit cards, and online payments were far from popular anywhere in the world. This episode tells the story of this experiment and its consequences for independent media. Interviews are with Premesh Chandran, dhief executive officer and co-founder of Malaysiakini, and Patrice Schneider, chief strategy officer at Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), both of whom were there in 2002, to find out how it was to innovate at that time and what type of expertise it takes to do it.

Episode 5: When Journalists Organise and Take Back the Newsroom. The Story of Tiempo Argentino (May 13 2021) - In this episode, Andrea Gálvez, a journalist based in Argentina, tells a story of labour mobilisation and Tiempo Argentino's rebirth as a journalistic cooperative. On April 24 2016, Tiempo Argentino published its first edition as a workers' cooperative. Before this, it was a printed newspaper, managed by a businessman, with a traditional financing model using advertising to support its operations. The money was mostly coming from government sources, but when the Argentine economy went into recession and the government changed, Tiempo Argentino lost its funding, leaving 125 workers without jobs. But the paper did not shut down; it resurrected in the form of a workers' cooperative, financed by its readers - an event described here as having revolutionised journalism in Argentina.

Episode 6: Hybrid Journalism (May 28 2021) - This final episode in the series explores an increasingly popular funding strategy for small, independent media organisations: hybrid business models, where media outlets combine revenues from various sources as a means of financing their journalistic work. These business models usually involve a mix of small donations or subscriptions from audiences, grants from big donors like foundations, and profits from selling services or specialised products. Speakers are Monia ben Hamadi, editor in chief of Inkyfada, a Tunisia-based independent media organisation, and Marius Dragomir, director of the CMDS.