How Journalist Are Leveraging Blockchain Technology

In an era of digital communication, it has never been easier to communicate our thoughts and opinions to anyone online. The rise of social media platforms has had a tremendous impact on people wanting to express their freedom of speech around the world, bring awareness to a cause, and report breaking news. From Wikileaks, to raising awareness for ALS with the ALS ice bucket challenge, to the rise of the Arab Spring in Egypt.

“If you want to liberate a country, give them the internet”.

–Wael Ghonim, Egyptian internet activist

Social media has had big impacts on global events because of how easy it is to communicate. This was the killer app of the internet, to transfer information without borders. It has become an “essential” for humans to survive in the 21st century. In fact almost 3 Billion people are already online!

Now, what happens when you live in a country where your flow of information is contained. You are not allowed to access certain information as to its filtered or censored. Each country has different motives to do this, and in an era where Internet data can be manipulated, erased, or changed; Champions of freedom of speech need alternatives to provide better tools of communication, especially in an era where anyone can “become” a journalist.

The web 3.0 revolution

Blockchain technology dubbed as the next era of the internet has components that could better the way we communicate online. Its censor resistant and immutable meaning any information that goes in can never be changed, erased, or manipulated. Many journalist and companies are starting to leverage its benefits to provide transparency and trust to stories. Some companies have the ambition to eradicate fake news with this technology.

Civil

For example Civil, a community-owned platform for independent journalism ran on Ethereum, wants to bring more accountability to a journalist. According to their website, every Civil newsroom you encounter has pledged to abide by high ethical standards and is held accountable to the public they serve.

Trusted Voices

Another interesting project is Trusted Voices powered by Penta and Emerge, wants to increase transparency in news media. Using blockchain technology, Trusted Voices tracks source material to create a chain of custody from the device used to capture content to its usage on various media platforms. They have launched a project in Central America to report the Migrant Caravan in the region.

Traditional companies are catching on as well. The New York Times is experimenting with blockchain publishing, and journalism startup Pressourses has been hearing advice on the technology as well.

This is just the beginning of an era where information flow becomes less censorable. We don’t know what the killer app of blockchain and journalism can be, or even if it’s the best technology for journalism yet. One thing is certain, the technological components of censor-resistance align with future journalism, and modern journalists are taking notice.

By Menajem Benchimol, Co-Founder of BlockTren, blockchain consultant at Ross PLLC, and host of the Spanish podcast Un Futuro Disruptivo.