68 START-UP ALLEY Civil
Words by Ann-Marie Corvin
In this month’s Start-up Alley, we look at companies using blockchain technology to provide new
services for the media industry
CIVIL
COUNTRY: USA STARTED: 2017
The way New York start-up Civil sees it, journalistic standards have fallen because newsrooms are compromised by market forces: the billionaire owner with vested interests, the ad-based business that relies on clickbait, and the big firms and super-rich who slap lawsuits on publishers to alter or remove controversial content. Civil’s aim is to make independent journalism a more robust, sustainable force by using blockchain and cryptocurrency to increase permanence and self-governance. The firm is the brainchild of CEO Matthew Iles, who started out as a journalist before setting up his own digital marketing agency. Key to the endeavour is blockchain, according to Christine Mohan, one of the firm’s seven co-founders. For starters, news archives will be protected because blockchain offers permanence: “It’s an immutable archive which you cannot change or delete,” she explains. In terms of governance, blockchain’s ability to distribute cryptocurrency plays
KEEPING THINGS CIVIL Blockchain could help make independent journalism more robust and sustainable
WEWANT JOURNALISTS TO NOT WORRY ABOUT PUBLISHERS TAKING STORIES DOWN FOR COMMERCIAL REASONS
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