Readers pay up to ensure The Tyee can fully cover BC election

The Tyee, the web-based magazine published in Vancouver, has so far raised more than $7,000 to help finance its enhanced coverage of the looming British Columbia election.

According to a story published by Canadian Press, the magazine had hoped to raise $5,000 to pay for an extra reporter over the 10-day campaign; in return, donors could indicate which area of coverage they would like to see emphasized. The pledge drive is scheduled to run until April 14, when the election starts.

A side benefit of the fundraising is the feedback that readers give on their election priorities when or if they link their donations to particular issues.

While many readers have advised The Tyee to use their donation for whatever issue the magazine deems most important, of those who have given specific instructions the broad topic of "corruption" tops the list (see graph). It's followed by environment, housing/poverty and education.

Way down on that list, narrowly edging out the always popular "other" category, is the Olympics.

David Beers, the editor, says he didn't take the initiative lightly and that it is somewhat "nerve-wracking" to hand over even some editorial control to the readers:

"Editors like to be the boss. They want to figure out what the issues are and then find reporters that cover them. In this case, I'm turning the reins over a bit to our readers," Beers said."We wanted to throw a lot more reporting power at the election. What we were lacking were resources, just like the rest of the media right about now."

(This kind of community-funded reporting has been done elsewhere -- such as Spot.us, a San Francisco-based project where investigative journalism is financed by donations.)

Beers said The Tyee has considered the ethical ramifications of its pledge drive, but has so far not run into any problems.

"If we were getting an enormous chunk of money from any one source, you'd have to kind of wonder who was behind that money. But that hasn't happened," he said.

"(The readers) aren't saying, 'go do a story on that guy's business and make sure you dig up dirt.' It's so open-ended that I don't feel that our editorial integrity is challenged. But I think you would have to construct pledge drives like this being sensitive to that."