The Collaborative Journalism Summit happened last week in Montclair, N.J., at the Center for Cooperative Media. The room was full, the attendee swag was clever and the schedule promised to deliver the best sharing of lessons around journalism collaboration and news partnerships we could ask for.
“It’s history in the making”
“I look and stare so deep in your eyes”
The day started off with a keynote by Emilia Díaz-Struck, research editor for the Panama Papers project where she talked about the deep level of coordination that was required for journalists and news media around the world to collaborate on such a large project.
“Your love can do what no one else can”
All day long a recurring theme was the impact of partnerships. We heard example after example about how collaborations enable journalists to make major changes with their reporting. Change-making journalism used to be routine when well-staffed newsrooms had big budgets, but today’s it’s harder to do alone.
Partnerships help newsrooms fill the gaps in their resources and delivery a powerful impact through their work. Of course, there’s still open debate about what the impact of journalism should be, and in the question-and-answer sessions we heard differing perspectives.
“But I still don’t understand”
The Panama Papers. Electionland. These are huge collaborations with hundreds of people involved. How do partnerships come together at a smaller scale? I joined Tim Griggs on stage to talk about research each of us has been doing to answer that question, and then a terrific parade of practitioners shared the lessons they have learned being in the trenches on collaborations.
“Got me hoping you’ll page me right now”
Maybe the most exciting news of the day was an open call for collaborative reporting projects that will be funded by the Rita Allen Foundation. The deadline to apply is June 30, then three projects will be awarded $7,000 each to fund their project.
Jason Alcorn (@jasonalcorn) is the Metrics Editor for MediaShift. In addition to his work with MediaShift, he works as a consultant with non-profits and newsrooms.