Deca (journalism collective)
Deca is a cooperative of magazine writers co-owned and managed by its members. Their cooperative model is based on photo agencies like Magnum and NOOR. Each journalist reports and writes independently but stories are edited and promoted collectively.[1] Their writers are based all over the world, including Rome, London, Shanghai, Barcelona, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Collectively, they have reported from more than 90 countries and every continent but Antarctica. Deca's tagline is "The world, firsthand."[2] They offer a subscription service to their stories as well as an iOS app, with an Android app in development. Readers can also purchase the stories for download as Kindle singles on Amazon.com.
 | |
| Cooperative | |
| Industry | Journalism |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Sonia Faleiro, Stephan Faris, McKenzie Funk, Vanessa M. Gezari, Marc Herman, Mara Hvistendahl, Delphine Schrank, Tom Zoellner and Donovan Hohn |
| Headquarters | Worldwide |
| Website | http://www.decastories.com |
History
Deca launched in June 2014 with the story "And The City Swallowed Them"[3] by Mara Hvistendahl[4] and a Kickstarter campaign that raised $32,627.[5]
And The City Swallowed Them
"And The City Swallowed Them" is Deca's debut story, written by Mara Hvistendahl, published in June, 2014. It is a true crime nonfiction story about the murder of 22-year-old model Diana O'brien[6] in Shanghai on July 6, 2008 based on dozens of interviews with investigators, models, and both the victim's and the convicted murderer's families.[7] The short book touches on issues of urbanization, migration and underground economies, anchored by the narrative of the lives of the Diana O'Brien and her murderer. The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time blog wrote about the book: "And The City Swallowed Them looks at the world that brought two different kinds of newcomers together—foreigners, including young models fighting for emerging opportunities in high fashion, and China’s own migrants, including those traveling from poor villages who were willing to go to desperate measures to scrape together their own living.” Hvistendahl is the author of Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men.
Homelands
"Homelands" is Deca's second story, written by Stephan Faris, published in July, 2014. Following in the tradition of George Orwell’s “Marrakech” and, more recently, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparations in The Atlantic, "Homelands" is an essay exploring the global immigration crisis and calling for open borders. It draws on the reporter's experiences in Liberia, Kenya, Italy and South Africa while working for magazines such as Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Atlantic. A large part of the essay focuses on the parallels between the global migration crisis and South Africa's apartheid regime. It examines the economic, social and moral implications of restricting people's movements based on where they were born. Faris is the author of Forecast: The Surprising--and Immediate--Consequences of Climate Change.
Come See the Mountain
"Come See the Mountain" is Deca's third story, written by Tom Zoellner, published in December, 2014. It centers around the idea of "dark eco-tourism", the environmental version of dark tourism, where people pay to witness environmental degradation. The short book focuses mostly on tourists who visit the extremely dangerous Cerro Rico mine in Potosí, Bolivia where hundreds of people die in collapses and explosions every year. It also touches on similar phenomenons of "dark eco-tourism" such as taking cruises to watch glaciers melt and flights over the Great Pacific garbage patch. The story explores the issue of the unintended consequences of development in the Global North on the Global South. Deca's website describes the book as a "journey into the guilty heart of progress". Zoellner is the author of five books, including Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World.
Of Ice and Men
"Of Ice and Men" is Deca's fourth story, written by McKenzie Funk, due to be published in mid-January, 2015. An excerpt of the book was published in the New York Times Magazine on December 30, 2014. The book is an account of the wreck of the Kulluk, a drill barge that was used for oil exploration in Arctic waters by the Royal Dutch Shell oil company. The story draws from dozens of interviews in Alaska and hundreds of pages of Coast Guard reports and oil industry documents. It explores the new frontier of energy exploration everywhere from the cockpits of rescue helicopters in the Arctic to Washington D.C. to oil company boardrooms. Funk is the author of Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming.
Member list
| Name | Nationality | Country of Residence | Status | Active years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonia Faleiro |  India |
 UK + India |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Stephan Faris |  USA |
 Italy |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| McKenzie Funk | USA |
USA |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Vanessa M. Gezari | USA |
USA |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Marc Herman | USA |
 Spain |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Mara Hvistendahl | USA |
 China |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Delphine Schrank | USA +  France |
USA |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Tom Zoellner | USA |
USA |
Active (Founding Member) | 2014– |
| Donovan Hohn | USA |
USA |
Withdrawn | 2014–2014 |
| Rania Abouzeid |  Australia +  Lebanon |
Lebanon |
Active (Full Member) | 2014– |
| Elizabeth Dickinson | USA |
USA |
Active (Full Member) | 2014– |
Criticism
An article in the Columbia Journalism Review offered this criticism of the Deca model: "I found myself wondering if this really is a better arrangement for freelancers who feel exploited by traditional magazines. Sure, I might have to work harder to sell editors on my ideas or agree to tweak my initial pitch to their specifications, but at least I have a contract for a guaranteed amount of money that doesn’t fluctuate based on how many people read my work or purchase the magazine that week. Deca plans on publishing nonfiction stories of about 10,000 words each. For its writers to come anywhere close to earning a mainstream magazine’s per-word rate, every single one of its stories is going to have to be a massive hit. Even top-selling Kindle Singles are more useful in generating an audience for journalism than they are in generating revenue."[8]
External links
- Deca
- Nieman Storyboard: "Inside the new storytelling collective Deca"
- The Paris Review: "Journalists reporting from more than ninety countries are collaborating on a new project called Deca."
- Capital New York: "Meet Deca, the latest journalism cooperative."
- Forbes: "Is New Journalism Cooperative Deca The Future Of Digital Publishing?"
- Fast Company: "Kickstarter Bets on... Journalism."
- Gigaom: "Award-winning journalists launch a publishing co-operative called Deca, inspired by Magnum."
- Columbia Journalism Review: "Journo-startups that appeal right to readers"
- Journalism.co.uk: "An international co-operative of award-winning journalists are working together to tell the stories they feel are most important, despite most having never met in person."
- The Chicago Tribune: "Deca is a prime example of the freedoms digital publishing allows."
- El País: "Taking Magnum as a model, Deca is born, an association of 9 journalists..."
- The Hindu: "Their inaugural offering...is an enthralling story. If this is the benchmark for readers, then it is a high one for publishers worldwide."
References
- ↑ http://www.decastories.com/concept/
- ↑ http://www.decastories.com/concept/
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/City-Swallowed-Them-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B00KWHZ4LQ
- ↑ Mara Hvistendahl
- ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/386476501/deca
- ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-model-stabbed-fully-clothed-when-found-boyfriend-1.772056
- ↑ http://www.decastories.com/and-the-city-swallowed-them/
- ↑ http://www.cjr.org/realtalk/deca_freelance_collective.php?utm_source=scoopinion#sthash.urN1HgNU.dpuf