Persuading to Pay: Exploring the What and Why in Crowdfunded Journalism

ABSTRACT Incorporating theoretical concepts from communication, media economics, and social psychology, and using data from two constructed weeks, this content analysis study examined factors contributing to funding successes on Byline, an international crowdfunded journalism platform. This study found that non-public affairs news is more likely to reach funding goals, have more supporters, and receive more money per supporter than public affairs news; author location makes a difference in how many supporters and how much donation a news column receives; and offering more reward options is associated with a significantly higher odds of a column reaching funding goals and having more supporters. Overall, this study offers empirical evidence of how news organizations may learn from Byline’s successful crowdfunding strategy, as well as theoretical linkages between uses and gratifications and Cialdini’s rule of reciprocity in understanding what and why people are persuaded to pay for news.