Forbes enters blockchain universe via Civil partnership

Global media giant Forbes has become the latest entrant into the blockchain space with its partnership with blockchain journalism startup Civil.

Through this partnership, Forbes will not only experiment with this innovating technology but also try to better understand how publishing content on the blockchain can increase trust with audiences as well as explore new ways of enhancing audience engagement and generating additional revenue streams.

Starting next year, Forbes will begin publishing metadata from select articles to the blockchain via Civil, where the information will be permanently archived and cannot be altered by any third party. Depending on the outcome of the trial, Forbes may decide to publish metadata from all of its articles to Civil’s decentralized network.

“Forbes and Civil believe passionately in the mission of journalism, and together we can provide audiences with a level of unprecedented transparency around our content. We’ll also be able to expand the reach of our writers and identify new revenue channels over time,” said Salah Zalatimo, Senior Vice President of Product & Technology at Forbes.

Under the partnership, Civil’s blockchain publishing tools will be integrated into Forbes’ innovative content management system (CMS), known as ‘Bertie’, which would enable “proven authorship, better control of content rights and permanent archiving,” the release said.

Forbes, on the other hand, will have a presence on the Civil Registry, through which its editors and reporters who cover the crypto beat can interact directly with Civil members, further building audience trust.

Axios reported that Forbes is also looking into “smart contracts” for allowing its contributors to publish content to various outlets such as Medium or LinkedIn, and to Forbes and Civil, via its CMS.