While blockchain is most often associated with cryptocurrencies and digital money, it has the potential to solve problems that involve both data that needs to be secured and people working collaboratively. In journalism, this could include everything from tracking the provenance of a story to finding ways to make digital advertising more effective and efficient.
Unlike the constant trustlessness required of blockchains to keep their networks secure and functioning, newsrooms require transparency and a level of trust that is constantly negotiated and renegotiated. This article explores several targeted solutions,1 including blockchain-based add-ons to existing systems that can help with ad buying, timestamping and other aspects of daily journalism. It also examines the possibility of blockchains becoming the gatekeepers for digitized public records and how this might impact journalist access to these data sources, potentially replacing Freedom of Information requests and whistleblowers as we know them today.
News organizations can become stakeholders in what are called “token-curated registries” that rank advertisers, allowing them to have more control over how their digital ads are purchased and served. In addition, they can use blockchains to track the origination of content, ensuring that the source is being properly credit for their work. Finally, they can also use blockchains to keep track of ad impressions, making sure that their audiences aren’t seeing the same ads over and over again. This is a big problem with social media platforms and automated ad exchanges, which can be difficult to regulate.