Startup founder Don Templeman wants to make polarization in journalism a thing of the past.
That certainly seems like a lofty goal in 2024. Today, big media outlets and social media platforms build their audiences by reinforcing specific viewpoints. The reality is that the focus is on click rates and advertiser revenue. But Templaman believes recent blockchain and Web3 advances make it possible to build a better, less polarized news ecosystem. And he’s building it from the ground up with his Atlanta-based startup Aemula.
Aemula is a decentralized platform that helps distribute content from independent journalists and introduce subscribers to diverse sources.
Unlike traditional news outlets, Aemula doesn’t rely on advertisers. The subscription-based platform is $10 a month, and that subscription gives readers access to content across the platform. That means readers don’t have to subscribe to multiple outlets to keep up with the perspectives of many different independent journalists.
90 percent of revenue goes back into the community and the network, with over 70 percent going back to the writers. The platform is designed to help journalists focus on their writing instead of audience growth. Unlike popular platforms like Substack, independent journalists don’t have to do the work of building up their individual subscriber base.
Writers maintain full ownership of their work.
Central to Aemula’s news transparency goals is its diverse group of Content Moderators. Anyone can participate in content moderation or platform governance and be compensated for their contributions. Moderators ensure that no single entity controls the flow of information.
New Tech, New Opportunities For Journalists
Templeman, who grew up in Athens, Georgia, graduated from Wake Forest University before moving to New York City.
He admitted that he was “way too early” when he first launched Aemula. He first had the idea in 2016 after the US Presidential Election when he wanted to build something to help with the divisive media landscape. But what he wanted to build in the MediaTech space was simply not technologically possible. What he needed was an update to Ethereum’s scalability and transaction processing capabilities and updates to blockchain’s user experience.
He built up his early career in finance, but would periodically check back to see if the underlying blockchain technology had evolved. Once it did in early 2024, he kept looking around to see if another startup was finally building something similar to help journalists get paid while getting readers more quality content.
He soon realized he would need to build it himself and started to build out Aemula.
Launching In The MediaTech World
It is early days for the Aemula, but Templaman said he is focused on building up the platform’s community from scratch. He told Hypepotamus that he is looking to bring on more writers onto the platform for its live demo and bring on help on technical development.
