French news site Owni asks users for funding ideas

French news site Owni, which specialises in data journalism, is inviting users to contribute funding ideas to help maintain the site.

The website has launched a wiki inviting users to contribute their own ideas about how Owni can find additional revenue, along with a hashtag #ownioupas.

Owni’s home page says: "Owni is not closing down. Owni is for sale".

The message says the organisation is taking a "break". It adds that it has "many ideas to better protect and continue running a media organisation that we want to be innovative, ambitious and passionate.”

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, Frédéric-Alexandre Talec, commercial and marketing manager at Owni, was unable to confirm whether or not the changes would have any impact on jobs at the outlet.

He added that the site had received many supportive messages since launching the initiative this week.

So far users on the wiki have suggested creating and monetising an app, crowdfunding and starting a separate business whose profits would fund its journalism.

Owni collaborated with Wikileaks in October 2010 to build an interface that allowed users to analyse nearly 400,000 US Army documents concerning the war in Iraq.

Update 13 December:

Owni today published an editorial on its site in which it reported that the site has costs of €90,000 a month. It added that many readers have indicated a willingness to take out a subscription to Owni.

The site is now conducting a survey asking how much, if anything, readers would be willing to pay per month to access all or some of the site’s content.

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