RightsCon Toronto 2018

When Peter Thiel coined the phrase 'Competition is for losers', he meant: don't start a business, start a monopoly. In a 2014 Wall Street Journal piece, he expanded on this, saying 'creating value isn't enough - you also need to capture some of the value you create'.

How do we define the value of journalism? Is it what turns a profit - clickbait, political gossip, or propaganda - or grows an audience, or something else?

The crisis in journalism is about business models to a point, but it goes far deeper. Real value in journalism is created when it challenges power (whether governments, individuals and corporations - especially monopolies) and inspires change. This is how journalism can support citizens and defend democracy.

But it often seems that the journalism that focuses on these outcomes captures almost none of the enormous social and financial value it creates. How can we solve that?

Learning from the powerful is an important part of the answer. The informal networks that generate the wealth, power and influence that govern our world are intensely collaborative, pragmatic - and global. Recent investigative projects and partnerships show there is appetite to mirror this, in order to produce results which hold the powerful to account and spark change. But there is so much more to do.

In this session we will explore what some of the most successful collaborations have been, and how they can be replicated. But we also hope to define barriers that curtail growth in accountability journalism, and find ways to overcome or circumvent them.