The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University is housed in a brand new building on campus so the unveiling of the report "Comparing Models of Collaborative Journalism" was also an opportunity to show off their new digs. Sarah Stonbely was principal investigator on the project and gave the presentation.
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| The lobby of the new School of Communication and Media building at Montclair State. |
What!? you say. Collaborative journalism?? Journalists collaborate? Since when? Journalists are cut-throat competitors.
Well, yes. But not always.
And not as much anymore.
While journalists would like to remain tough loners that option is becoming as endangered as smoking in the newsroom.
Of course, certain types of cooperation have existed for decades. The wire services were ways daily newspapers found to cover big, generally national stories they couldn't cover individually. Other types are newer.
Stonbely presented six models of collaborative journalism. Basically, they are divided by duration and the type of cooperation. Collaboration is either temporary or ongoing and involves varying degrees of co-creating, from working separately and publishing together to working together from start to finish.
Not surprisingly, Public Radio provides some models for collaboration, including NPR working with local stations and local stations working together. Other non-profits are also at the forefront of cooperation.
But, for-profit entities also form cooperatives. TAPinto, a New Jersey-based business, sells franchises. Most are in small communities, although there is a TAPinto Newark. A central office provides libel insurance and some advertising assistance among other things individual franchises would have difficulty with. Franchisees are also expected to abide by the Society of Profressional Journalists Code of Ethics.
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| A panel discusses various examples of cooperative journalism projects. |
Other co-ops are formed for a specific purpose or story, including The Reentry Project in Philadelphia, in which 15 news organizations present stories on prisoner reentry into the community. Radio, print and digital entities are part of the Project. No television stations agreed to be part of it, Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, project editor of the project, said.
Regardless of the type of collaboration, the good news is that journalists are trying to change. And there is hope for a bright future in journalism.
