Traditional journalism

Traditional journalism is stuck between two extremes: it's either hidden behind a paywall or loaded with advertising, both bad for consumers:

• A paywall requires a long-term, expensive commitment; you can't just read the article you're interested in
• Advertising butchers usability, distracts from the real content and brings with it privacy issues such as trackers.

And anything that's bad for consumers is bad for journalists and journalism at large.

Steemit offers the middle-ground.

Consumers not only have free access to content but can also reward high quality content. In fact, it offers something that the traditional methods don't offer: reader curation.

Reader curation

Ad-supported news outlets are resorting more and more to pop-news: articles that will attract the most readers and generate the most income, at the expense of quality journalism.

Steemits curation system, although in its early days, will help change this. Poor quality content will receive less rewards, encouraging journalists to write what matters.

Are we there yet?

Steemit is still in beta and for good reason. Although a lot of effort is being put into preventing the negative effects of bots, they are still prominent. Likewise, quality content can still be easily missed, making it a risky platform. Perhaps ideas such as the promoted content field will help here.

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Cover photo by Jon S used with permission under CC BY 2.0.