Overview:

Christine Holbert summarizes insights from a BlueLena Publisher Roundtable featuring leaders from Civil Eats, The American Prospect, and the Center for Cooperative Media. The discussion highlights the benefits of collaborative journalism, such as expanding audience reach, sharing resources, and producing impactful stories that individual newsrooms might not achieve alone. The article also offers practical advice for successful collaboration, emphasizing the importance of openness, clear communication, and mutual respect among partners.

Collaborative journalism, in which newsrooms work together on reporting and distribution, can drive impact that’s greater than the sum of what they’d achieve individually – but it’s not without its challenges. During the March 2024 BlueLena Publisher Roundtable, organizations who have established themselves as leaders in collaborative journalism shared insights on how to identify great partners, overcome challenges and produce results for the communities.

Below are the takeaways from our conversation with Matt Wheeland, operations director of Civil Eats; Ellen Meany, publisher at The American Prospect; Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media; and Joe Amditis, assistant director of Products and Events for Center for Cooperative Media, plus examples of collaborative reporting and resources you can use in your newsroom.

Why do collaborative journalism?

Collaboration can bring awareness of your publication to new audiences, allows your newsroom to tap into partners’ skills, talent and experiences, and can allow more stories to be told. 

“Just the idea that we can publish more stories than we would have the ability to do, just by opening our newsroom up to other contributors … it’s worked really well,” Meany said.

Opening up the newsroom means that reporters can pitch to other publications and work with other reporters to tell a story that spans farther than the local or regional coverage. Wheeland agreed: “We get to tell stories we wouldn’t otherwise be able to or we wouldn’t commission.”

Collaborative journalism can have an enormous impact on the communities it serves. Meany spoke of a recent issue of The American Prospect about the supply chain, and how the reporting was cited by legislators in their support of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act and other similar policies that are bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which also supports unions and worker rights.

For Amditis, a major impact occurred after collaborative reporting efforts in New Jersey expanded coverage of the critical lack of and need for translation in New Jersey government agencies for years: Finally, the government made it a requirement to print all government documents in six different languages. This means those documents and services are now more easily accessible for a greater number of New Jerseyans.

Collaborative journalism can have an impact for the newsrooms too, as partnerships mean that the reporting can reach and inform more audiences.

Civil Eats partnered with Edible Communities to produce a four-story series last year, co-published across both publications.

“Each time we published [a story], we heard from new people in new parts of the country who had never read anything that we had done before,” Wheeland said. “It’s always nice to hear that you’re reaching new audiences and helping people understand these complicated issues.”

Collaboration tips

On being a good partner

When it comes to partnerships, all members of the team need to be cooperative. Meany said it best: “You have to be willing to be edited and take advice or go through a fact-check together. You have to be willing to work with other people.” Set clear expectations with an MOU and contract that outlines the project. Communicate clearly what the goals and objectives are and how you will accomplish them together.

And keep in mind that not every member of the team will be able to attend every meeting. Have a system for updating the team on what’s happening and where you are in the project so that everyone is up-to-date.

When the story focus changes

During the course of reporting, the focus may change, or the partners may have a different idea about the direction the story should take. You may, as Wheeland recalled in one instance, end up writing two separate pieces because the partners wanted to go in different directions. This can be unpredictable and result in more work for all involved – and it can also result in more reporting and diversity in coverage. It’s critical to be open-minded and flexible.

If your technology is different

Different newsrooms use different technology, and bringing two teams together can mean learning a new tech stack – and not just publishing technology like CMS or newsletter platform. When it comes to project management software, file storage and office suites, decide on what tech you will use ahead of time so you are not scrambling to communicate once the project is happening.

For publishing decisions

When there is more than one publisher working on a story, either one publication will publish the story first or each publication will publish at the same time. Determine who will publish the story before the reporting begins. Set guidelines for who will publish first, which link will be the primary link and what SEO terms will be used.

Working with multilingual publishers means the reporting will reach more readers, but it also means that the reporting needs to be translated into one or more languages from the original record. Set the process for translating before publishing so you can get your story to all audiences smoothly and efficiently.

Finding success in collaborative journalism is a matter of planning ahead, setting expectations and cooperating with team members. Above all else, remain flexible and open-minded.  With the organizational structures in place, your team of reporters and partners can make a big impact on the communities that your reporting serves.

Examples and resources

Civil Eats

The American Prospect

Independent publications

Audio/video

Think-tank and advocacy group collaborations

Center for Cooperative Media

Connect with Civil Eats and The American Prospect

Civil Eats: Our email is always open and it’s pitches@civileats.com.

The American Prospect: Send pitches at prospect.org/pitch.

About the panelists

Matt Wheeland is the operations director of Civil Eats, a daily news source for critical thought about the American food system. He is a long-time environmental journalist and has covered a wide range of environmental, sustainability and social justice subjects over the past 20 years.

Ellen Meany is the publisher at The American Prospect, a nationally renowned nonprofit public policy magazine, where she built a digital membership model from zero to sustainable in just three years, and managed grant relationships with major foundations and individual donors.

Stefanie Murray is the director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, where she specializes in collaborative journalism, local journalism and news ecosystems.

Joe Amditis is the assistant director of products and events for Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, where he specializes in local news ecosystem management and support, with concentrations in local news innovation, collaborative journalism, project management and the chronically online.

About BlueLena

BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 250 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences. 

BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), the Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.