> People who are passionate about a subject will report on it whether they're paid to or not
The Theranos story is an example of why we need institutions like the Wall Street Journal. You had a passionate reporter. But there was so much more needed to bring the story to light.
"When the Journal confronted [Theranos] with its findings based on the reporting thus far and sought its input, Theranos waged an aggressive campaign to discredit Mr. Carreyrou and his sources. Sunny Balwani, Theranos’s president, flew to the Phoenix area, where Theranos was offering its blood tests in Walgreens stores. There, some doctors who had talked with Carreyrou said Mr. Balwani pressured them to recant their statements. The famed litigator David Boies came twice to the Journal’s newsroom in midtown Manhattan to discuss the issues and tried to get the story killed.
The Journal’s top editors and lawyers, who had closely monitored Mr. Carreyrou’s reporting from an early stage, unflinchingly stood by him" [1].
Switching to a model where news is done philanthropically means turning off public oversight on anyone who can file a federal lawsuit.
The Theranos story is an example of why we need institutions like the Wall Street Journal. You had a passionate reporter. But there was so much more needed to bring the story to light.
"When the Journal confronted [Theranos] with its findings based on the reporting thus far and sought its input, Theranos waged an aggressive campaign to discredit Mr. Carreyrou and his sources. Sunny Balwani, Theranos’s president, flew to the Phoenix area, where Theranos was offering its blood tests in Walgreens stores. There, some doctors who had talked with Carreyrou said Mr. Balwani pressured them to recant their statements. The famed litigator David Boies came twice to the Journal’s newsroom in midtown Manhattan to discuss the issues and tried to get the story killed. The Journal’s top editors and lawyers, who had closely monitored Mr. Carreyrou’s reporting from an early stage, unflinchingly stood by him" [1].
Switching to a model where news is done philanthropically means turning off public oversight on anyone who can file a federal lawsuit.
[1] http://businessjournalism.org/2016/11/testing-theranos-how-t...