Responsibilities to the story, campaign(er), and profession: Exploring important considerations shaping Canadian print journalists' coverage of medical crowdfunding campaigns

Abstract

Medical crowdfunding is growing in popularity in a number of countries, including Canada. In the crowdfunding context people write and share their own stories. This activity also intersects with conventional news media practices when journalists prepare stories about these campaigns. This intersection raises the question of what are print journalists' responsibilities towards covering human interest stories based on medical crowdfunding campaigns? In this qualitative analysis we explore this question through reporting on interviews conducted with 14 Canadian news media professionals. After transcript review, emergent themes were compared and contrasted across investigators to reach confirmation on the scope and scale of emergent themes. These themes were then contrasted against the existing literature and our research goals to aid in interpreting their significance. Thematic analysis of the interviews identified three key domains of responsibility for journalists, which are: to the story, to the campaign and campaigner, and to their profession.