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Center for Cooperative Media Identifies Models for Collaborative Journalism

Report Also Identifies Ongoing Collaborative Efforts Across United States and Europe

Posted in: School of Communication and Media News

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On Friday, September 29, the Center for Cooperative Media, whose mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, released its latest research report “Comparing Models of Collaborative Journalism.”  The report, which was written by Research Director Sarah Stonbely, identifies six models for collaborative journalism, and catalogs 44 ongoing collaborations across 500-plus newsrooms, mostly in the U.S. but increasingly in Europe as well.  Collaborative journalism can be defined as seeking “to produce content that is greater than what any individual journalist, newsroom, or organization could produce on its own.”

You can read the report, download the full PDF, and watch the center’s presentation and panel discussion here. A handful of printed copies are also available in the center’s office in suite #2109 in the new School of Communication facility.

A number of trade publications also reported on the report.  These include:  Nieman Journalism Lab, Poynter and Journalism.co.uk.

In her research, Stonbely focuses on cooperative arrangements, formal and informal, between two or more news and information organizations which aim to supplement each group’s resources and maximize the impact of the content produced.

Briefly, the six collaborative models identified in the report are:

1. Temporary and separate One-time/finite projects in which partners create content separately and share it.

2. Temporary and co-creating: “One-time/finite project in which partners work together to create content.”

3. Temporary and integrated: One-time/finite projects in which partners share content/data/resources at the organizational level

4. Ongoing and separate: “Ongoing/open-ended collaborations in which partners create content separately and share it.

5. Ongoing and co-creating: Ongoing/open-ended collaborations in which partners work together to create content

6. Ongoing and integrated: Ongoing/open-ended collaborations in which partners share content/data/resources at the organizational level.

Stonbely emphasizes the importance of the research report. “As we document, collaborative journalism is now being practiced on a scale that constitutes a revolution in journalism,” she writes. “The many trials and errors of the last decade have generated cooperative efforts that have stood the test of time and are showing the way for others.  In addition to Stonbely’s contribution, the report was edited by recent John S. Knight Journalism at Stanford fellow Heather Bryant.

The Center for Cooperative Media is a grant-funded program based at Montclair State University‘s School of Communication and Media. It works closely with the faculty, staff and students in the school, which operates under the aegis of the College of the Arts.

The Center for Cooperative Media works with more than 150 news and information partners across New Jersey, including hyperlocal digital publishers, public media, newspapers, television outlets, radio stations and multimedia news organizations.