Founder of Cardano Charles Hoskinson In response to criticism of his proposed CoinDesk acquisition, he said:[this] It symbolizes a fundamental problem in journalism. “
Specifically, it referred to an op-ed by crypto media outlet Protoss titled “Opinion: Charles Hoskinson Could Be the Worst Thing to Happen to CoinDesk,” which was a “true denounced Hoskinson’s view of overhauling journalism by altering the incentive structure through ‘bonds’. “
The author explained that backlash from journalists would make his proposal impractical. Moreover, what stands as ‘truth’ can easily be swayed by online sentiment and, in any case, purchased by the ‘elite minority’.
bond of truth
in the live stream of January 20ththe Cardano founder said the media generally has an agenda, citing several examples including FTX paying blocks and spinning positive narratives on the now-defunct exchange.
Hoskinson said his interest in acquiring CoinDesk is to return to honest and principled reporting, rather than spinning narratives and influencing the public in certain directions.
“Everybody has a media outlet and they want to use it as a way to express their influence in this space. So, ‘our chain is great, but this other chain is bad. ” My interest in the media side is broader and I want to find a way to restore the integrity of journalism once again. “
One approach to achieve this is to use authenticity guarantees. This includes the outlet making money every time an article is published. If an article is deemed inaccurate, the outlet will forfeit the security deposit from the person pointing out the inaccuracy.
“Isn’t that amazing in journalism? It’s an economic incentive for fact-checkers to check the facts.”
But according to Protoss, such a system is impractical.
Hoskinson defends his ideas
Nevertheless, to protect the bond of integrity, Hoskinson explained that economic incentives are key to influencing human psychology and behavior.
He added that the fundamental problem of journalism boils down to the current incentive structure.
Journalists and news organizations pledge their trust every time they publish an article. Our current system has no direct financial penalties for inaccurate and dishonest reports. However, to ensure truthfulness, inaccurate and dishonest reports carry financial penalties.
“The moment you are actually caught, there are no real consequences for it. The incentive structure is broken. It means losing.”
Hoskinson said the public would be more likely to trust the media under a credibility guarantee system.
