The end of journalism (as you know it) and the future of fundraising

The net has been a buzz with violin virtuoso Joshua Bell's Washington Post staged busking performance in a Washington D.C. metro station. Joshua played 6 songs on his $3.5 million violin handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari. After 43 minutes and 1,097 walk-bys, he received 27 donations totaling $32.17 (plus one $20 bill from the only person who recognized him.) For all you direct mail junkies and social entrepreneur types, that would be a 2.5% response rate at a cost of $125,000 per donation with an ROI of 0.00015%.

So is doubtful Joshua's performance is going to have much effect on future of professional fundraising (though it should remind you how poor events are as effective strategies to raise money). But just watch this video, is this the future of professional journalism? I'm afraid so.