Entrepreneurialism or Cooperativism?

Abstract

This article understands entrepreneurial journalism as part of broader socio-economic developments associated with cognitive capitalism. Entrepreneurialism represents an attempt to accumulate profit from social and collaborative processes of knowledge creation. However, knowledge and information creation are collaborative processes that build on previous accumulated knowledge and rely on openness and exchange. The tensions within cognitive capitalism emerge from the collaborative nature of knowledge production and the problems associated with attempts to enclose this for profit. In terms of journalism, added tensions involve its public mission and social role that are antithetical to both profit and individualism. Cooperative enterprises can contribute to a reconciliation of such tensions because they operate for social benefit, and because they rely on cooperation and collaboration. This article examined journalistic cooperatives in Greece and found that they have organic bonds with the society they serve, and success is measured in terms of the benefit they produce rather than profit; they innovate in their cooperative decision making and in the forming and maintenance of social relationships; and they re-establish lost trust and community standing. In this manner they may form a credible alternative to profit-driven entrepreneurial journalism.

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