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