Global Voter Media Platform

Abstract:     
Our existing media, both private sector and public sector, have inadequate economic incentives for serving voter interests in our democracies and shareowner interests in our corporations. As a result, we suffer from corruption and inefficient policies. To remedy this, we can create a new hybrid media sector, where organizations compete for funds allocated by voters. This would provide the financial support for media to build their reputations for critiquing politicians, directors and their policies, while remaining loyal to voters' interests. With more trustworthy information and insight, we will be able to use our voting power more effectively.

The blogosphere's recent growth and energy provide an ideal engine for launching this proposal. We can create a website platform for blog (and other media) competitions, one for each voting community in the world. Supported initially by donations, this system should prove valuable enough to voters that they will finance media awards from their community budgets. Early adopters of this proposal are likely to be smaller democracies like student unions and municipalities, followed eventually by coops, credit unions, associations, labor unions, then corporations and regional and national governments.

Tests of this system have begun in Vancouver Canada. This paper describes the economic rationale for this reform, system designs tested so far, the results achieved, and strategies for the next stage of the voter funded media movement. This should make elected leaders (politicians, boards of directors) more accountable to voters and the public interest, and thus help solve the daunting range of global problems that humanity now faces.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Keywords: democracy, media reform, political reform, corporate governance, free-rider problem

JEL Classification: D72, G34, H40, K22, P16

working papers series