Civil, a new, decentralized platform for independent sustainable journalism, is launching an initial coin offering (ICO) of /CVL tokens with the aim of promoting and regulating ethical practices for journalists and newsrooms, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
With the introduction of blockchain and cryptoeconomics to its platform, Civil claims to be developing is a radically new operating model for journalism. Journalists who launch newsrooms on Civil will be beholden to their readers alone, Civil said. This contrasts with the current, programmatic advertising model, where publishers are incentivized to satisfy centralized platforms, like Google and Facebook, as well as advertisers and shareholders, irrespective of whether those decisions allow them to produce quality, ethical journalism.
Civil says its CVL token is not intended to be an investment and every participant will pay the same price so that everyone can contribute to the development of sustainable journalism. As part of this design, registered purchasers must answer and pass a questionnaire, be otherwise approved, and finally, demonstrate ‘Proof of Use’ to ensure CVL tokens are used as intended.
According to the company, by staking tokens, providing a mission statement, newsroom roster and a pledge to abide by the Civil Constitution, CVL token holders can start their own newsroom on Civil. Token holders can also challenge newsrooms in a mechanism designed to expose wrongdoing. In order to make a challenge, users stake CVL tokens to a Challenge smart contract by reference to a particular Newsroom along with a specific description of the violation and any supporting evidence. This action would initiate a community review of the matter.
The /CVL token sale will commence on August 13, running until August 27, unless a hard cap of $32 million USD has been achieved beforehand.
Once the token sale has been completed, the Civil protocol and platform will be controlled
by a decentralized, global network committed to supporting a free and sustainable press, the company said.