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PAMPLONA, Spain -- Given all the trash, half-truths and outright lies published on digital media, people are placing a higher value on media that verify information and demonstrate high ethical standards. Paul Steiger, taking questions at U. of Navarra event Paul Steiger , founder and executive chairman of ProPublica, tells of a major donor to his online publication who "absolutely hated" an investigative story that they had published about a group "near and dear to the donor's heart". Steiger told the donor that the information was verified, and the story was fair. "We will just have to agree to disagree," he told the donor. The donor, who had given $100,000 every year, stopped giving. And that would have been the end of the story, except that a year later, with no explanation, the donor's annual check arrived again. Steiger's point was that even people who disagree with you still respect journalism with high standards of accuracy and ethics....

The true role of universities has always been the improvement of society. Developing leaders is a key part of that. The scholars of universities immerse themselves in the values, ethics, culture, and history of a society and then communicate it to the students. Those of us in the humanities tend to think of innovation as something that happens outside, in the world of business, especially in the digital world. However, courses in innovation and entrepreneurship have started to take hold in schools of communication. Versi�n en espa�ol Beyond commercialization For academics, who seek knowledge for its own sake, there is something slightly perverse or unclean in considering their work from the point of view of its application in the business world. But innovation goes far beyond mere monetization. Read more �

The loss of advertising and the complications of public funding are forcing digital publishers to look for ways to persuade the public to pay. Surveys and actual market behavior show that a small percentage of digital users will pay, depending on the country, the media brand, payment systems, and technology platforms. For some publishers, that could be the difference between thriving and merely surviving. (Versi�n en espa�ol) The amounts some would be willing to pay are in the chart below, from Reuters Institute�s 2015 online survey of 24,000 users in 12 countries. From Newman et al., Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2015 (p. 65). Click on chart to enlarge. Read more �