[Discussion] Journalists donating to Kickstarter and Patreon campaigns I had a lively discussion with my uncle earlier today about whether or not journalists and reviewers should disclose if they have donated to a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign. My uncle is nominally a GamerGate supporter and believes in what GamerGate stands for, but isn't very active in online communities. My uncle argued that in most cases a journalist shouldn't have to disclose if they donated to the Kickstarter or Patreon of a product or person that they are covering, because the journalist receives no financial gain from the donation (only the recipient does). He argued that there are some exceptions to this, such as if they are a major donor (i.e. thousands of dollars) to the project/person, thus representing a potential conflict of interest. My uncle also argued that it places a large burden on journalists to keep track of every single donation they have ever made, which could be an extraordinarily long list after many years. He argues it could lead to situations where journalists are being cited for ethical violations for donations they made decades ago and have long since forgotten about. With that being said, he fully supports journalists disclosing when if they receive donations from Kickstarter or Patreon. I argued that they should disclose their donations to projects or people that they cover, as it is still a financial tie. I also argued that often-times there are special rewards that backers receive and that oftentimes when people donate to a cause, they feel psychologically invested in it and want to see it succeed. In addition, I argued that as a journalist, it is their job to do everything they can to ensure they are performing their job in a professional and ethical manner. There is also the possibility that journalists donating to content creators is indeed a quid-pro-quo in some cases, either intentionally or unintentionally. Often times the people (journalists and developers) in question are very cliquish and have ties with each other, which is why they are donating in the first place. My uncle countered this by stating that such a line of thinking is presuming the guilt of the journalists, rather than assuming that they are innocent until proven guilty. I do think there are some situations where journalists would need to donate to a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign in order to gain early access to a product, thus allowing them to cover the product in question. I do not believe this is inherently unethical and is merely part of a journalist doing their job. I do think my uncle raises a few interesting questions for discussion. Should journalists disclose one-way donations they make to projects/people, if they are receiving nothing in return? If so, should they always disclose such donations or only when they exceed the amount required to gain access to the product? If not, is there a certain amount of money where you would think it would be necessary (i.e. an extraordinarily large donation)? What if they receive a backer perk as part of their donation? Does treating all journalist-to-developer donations as potential conflicts of interest create a situation where journalists are perceived as guilty until proven innocent?