From Split to Balance - Dutch journalism start-ups and their approach of journalistic principles and entrepreneurship in the age of digital media

With the collapse of the traditional revenue models for journalism platforms, the pressure to cater to the needs of advertisers, companies or other external parties increased. Yet, journalism within a democratic society is widely considered as a public service that should inform the public and hold institutions in positions of power accountable for their actions. This should be done according to certain principles, like independence, objectivity and accuracy. On the other hand, money is necessary for journalism to fulfil this social responsibility. One of the responses to the collapse of these traditional revenue models, has been the rise of journalism start-ups. However, several ethical issues occur in regards of entrepreneurial journalism and its’ compatibility with the earlier named ‘traditional’ principles. There is argued that conflicts between the editorial mission and focussing on generating revenue are the biggest source of ethical concern for these journalistic start-ups. It is important to get a deeper insight into this issue. Therefore, this research focusses on how Dutch journalism start-ups approach these journalistic principles, while striving for a financially sustainable business. In order to answer this question, semi-structured in-depth interviews have been conducted with experts from the field of journalism start-ups, among these experts are the founders or editors-in-chief from these start-ups. The data collected from these interviews is analysed through a thematic analysis. The results show that the line that used to separate commerce and editorial practices, has been blurred by the rise of entrepreneurial journalism. This challenges journalism start-ups to find a sustainable revenue model, while fulfilling their social responsibility according to the earlier named principles. The consequences of this vary from platforms sacrificing their independence to not generating enough revenue to run a sustainable business or limiting them in their editorial work. Because of this tension between commerce and editorial practices, it seems like the traditional code of ethics does not function well in the age of digital media. This has led to a call for a renewed code of ethics, which should be more fitting for entrepreneurial journalism in the current digital age.