Collaborative journalism has become an increasingly successful solution to the challenges posed by today\u2019s shrinking media industry.<\/p>\n
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On May 4 and 5, The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State will host its first Collaborative Journalism Summit, a nationwide symposium bringing journalists, publishers and media executives together to share best practices and ideas about collaborative journalism and cooperative news networks.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than ever, it seems, journalists and journalism organizations are pooling their resources and working together on projects,\u201d explains Center for Cooperative Media Director Stefanie Murray. \u201cUltimately, collaborative journalism is important because it can have a greater impact: many working together can do more than one alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conference has a clear goal: to explore how collaborative reporting projects work and discuss how using such models can produce more meaningful journalism.<\/p>\n
A keynote address from International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) editors Martha Hamilton and Emilia Diaz-Struck will focus on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers project, a groundbreaking collaboration between hundreds of reporters on six continents that exposed the global scale of tax havens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such an excellent lineup of speakers representing a wide variety of journalism of organizations \u2013 ranging from the ICIJ and ProPublica to the Center for Investigative Reporting, from WNYC to the Detroit Journalism Cooperative,\u201d says Murray. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fascinating couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conference, which is offering a full menu of case study talks, workshops, breakout sessions and panel discussions, will itself be collaborative, stressing live note taking and best practices for building case studies. <\/p>\n
As the fourth national conference hosted by the Center for Cooperative Media and first to concentrate on collaborative journalism, it reflects the Center\u2019s commitment to supporting and strengthening local journalism. \u201cWe firmly believe that collaborative reporting and cooperative news networks are two very important components of sustainable journalism today,\u201d says Murray. \u201cWe want the summit to be the beginning of an ongoing conversation going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Collaborative Journalism Summit is being presented by the Rita Allen Foundation and Google News Lab, with additional support provided by Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.<\/p>\n
To register or to learn more, visit collaborativejournalism.org.<\/p>\n