Though most news organizations aim to provide content that is relevant to their readership, the founders of Uncoverage have taken that commitment to another level, one that relies not advertisements or subscriptions to collect revenue but instead on direct engagement with the audience through crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing is a rapidly growing trend, made popular through sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, where funders donate to products they want to see succeed in exchange for certain “perks” from the producer. In the case of Uncoverage, the perk is the ability to read in-depth, investigative content that is financed through their online marketplace. Established journalists pitch their coverage to the readers who choose to subscribe to that story for a fee.

The site, hosted at uncoverage.com, is in its infancy and is currently securing funds for its launch in the first quarter of 2014 through Indiegogo. In the Indiegogo campaign description, the owner, Israel Mirsky, says that “investigative journalism – the immune system of a functioning democracy – is broken.” He laments that writers are forced by advertising algorithms and the pop-culture-obsessed masses to write popular but insubstantial pieces a la Buzzfeed.

Similarly, even readers looking for serious content cannot find what they want, when they want it in a paper. Mirsky told The New York Times in a December 1^st article that, “I am passionate about depleted uranium but if I want to see more on the topic, my only choice is to buy a paper where reporting on the topic has appeared before and watch for future articles. I can’t imagine a less effective and satisfying way to get journalism on a topic I care about.”

His site, which has collected $10,723 of its $55,000 goal after only three days on Indiegogo, is a method to reverse the pathway of journalism, making the audience the determining body of content. The site will collect between five and seven percent of all payments, financing an editing body and the hosting of the site.

Although he encourages supporters to finance the content, Mirsky hopes to focus solely on what he considers significant. He told The New York Times in the December 1^st piece that he has some limits on content matter; for one, “I won’t take money for journalism on Miley Cyrus — it is not an open season.”