Sir Motors
Cartamz.com is an investigative journalism project focused on the public interest. Journalistic investigation is a discipline that entails high costs in terms of time and money. This did not stop us from moving forward through private initiative. It would be easier to bring together 9 people and create an association, a non-governmental organization, to operate on the basis of donor grants, creating a reliance on these funds to function.
This is followed by organizations such The Intercep or the American Center for Public Integrity, whose name inspired our CIP. We decided that the NGO model for investigative journalism is less challenging, it does not release initiative, it does not inflate hot blood in the veins of entrepreneurship. Therefore, we opted for a private venture, in the style of the Daily Maverik, in RAS. We are based on a business model that is monetized in the "display advertisement" and "branded content".
We believe that, in this way, we can obtain a minimum income that allows us to maintain the operation and pay decent salaries to the collaborators.
But, as we said, investigation requires a lot of resources. In this perspective, we are open to receive grants from donors, whether they are national public or private entities or even foreign embassies and foundations. These will be complementary funds. We will not depend on them to function, and so our independence will remain intact. Funds from possible donors could be used to help with the operational costs of Carta de Moçambique. We will accept donations tied to investigation projects on specific themes (such as defense of conservation or corruption in the forestry sector), previously agreed with management, or partnerships that aim to help train young journalists wishing to embrace investigative journalism, learning by doing. Dayly Maverick and the Mail and Guardian receive grants from donors, even though they are private organizations. Based on these funds, they have improved the quality of their journalism. In Mozambique, the current "mindset" advocates that donations should go to non-profit organizations.
But doing investigative journalism has more for public interest than profit making. Understanding this will take time. In any case, the idea of Investigation Projects is simply to express our willingness to receive support aimed at improving our technical capabilities and purchase of sophisticated equipment.
