ABSTRACT
Little is known about the effectiveness of action research to innovate around revenue models in digital journalism. In this chapter, the approach is tested to emerge new opportunities for a set of independent news media which are economically weak: those in exile and politically pressured environments. They struggle to transition their income away from donor dependency. Action research presents as a compelling methodology to surface deep insights into lived business experiences and to understand what could be, not necessarily what is. A research atelier was particularly effective in allowing diverse stakeholders to deviate from normative business thinking and collaboratively analyse data in real time. While an established methodology in other disciplines, it is somewhat unorthodox in media management due to its break from positivist and empiricist science. It is a slow-burn approach open to only a handful of industry-facing practitioners and requires new ethical and governance frames. At a time when digital journalism organisations operating in fragile contexts need urgent answers to the question of revenues, action research is presented for discussion and application to connect theory and practice for journalism revenue model innovation and within the under-researched sector of fragile media.
