CD187: ANJAN SUNDARAM - INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Anjan Sundaram is an independent journalist, author, and founder of the Stringer Foundation with a mission to expand global independent journalism. We discuss his work and how open protocols, such as bitcoin and nostr, empower journalists.

Anjan on Nostr: https://primal.net/anjansun
Anjan on X: https://x.com/anjansun
Stringer Foundation on X: https://stringerjournalism.org/

EPISODE: 187
BLOCK: 928149
PRICE: 1140 sats per dollar

(00:03:09) Anjan’s path: from Yale and Goldman Sachs to war reporting

(00:06:07) How war reporting is changing in the age of social media

(00:10:32) What makes a journalist? Raw footage vs. verified reporting

(00:14:00) Publishing pathways, bylines, pay, and lack of safety nets

(00:18:12) Fixing incentives: philanthropy, prizes, and media economics

(00:21:00) Turning down quant life: the Goldman Sachs detour

(00:23:07) Values alignment: finance, bitcoin, and free information flows

(00:24:49) Bloomberg, Substack, and sustainability

(00:26:19) Designing the Stringer Prize: credibility, juries, and impact

(00:29:39) Launching Stringer: partners, applications, and endowment plan

(00:32:10) Why pay in bitcoin: global payouts, fees, and onboarding stories

(00:35:33) Grants to awards pipeline and the courage index

(00:41:01) Lean ops vs. big charity: publicity without bloat

(00:43:59) The tenure problem: long-term support without dependency

(00:48:26) Transformative fellowships: MacArthur model and global gaps

(00:51:30) Journalism’s core: elevating humane, inspiring stories

(00:53:10) Value-for-value, Nostr, and building ad-free media

(00:58:24) Own your audience: platforms vs. protocols

(01:02:30) Bootstrapping Nostr: network effects and onboarding journalists

(01:05:13) Building a global home for independent journalists

(01:06:07) The drought in investigative reporting and who funds it

more info on the show: https://citadeldispatch.com
learn more about me: https://odell.xyz