Why Should Journalists Partner with Outside Organizations?
Journalism’s role in society is changing as the way information circulates continues to rapidly evolve. As recently a thirty years ago, familiar technologies such as social media and their specific algorithms didn’t even exist. Journalists have had to adapt to an ever-globalizing and ever-digitizing landscape.
This means that journalists must cull from new resources in order to make sure the truth is being reported in a way the public can understand. Most often the journalist acts as the bridge between the public and those other reaches of society. Therefore, it becomes necessary to work with a wide variety of people from all reaches of society in order to fully inform both yourself and the public.
But what can partnering with these organizations really do that’s both great for you and for your journalism?
ADVANCE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FINER DETAILS OF YOUR COMMUNITY
Advocacy groups and human rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are often very broad in scope but there are hundreds upon hundreds of under-reported on community-based advocacy groups that have a working knowledge of the finer details and injustices the general public may not know about. For example, how much do you know about the finer details of what fracking is and how it creates inequity, health problems, and other societal barriers? These groups have been spreading this information on the ground, and working with them will ensure that information spreads further.
COLLABORATIVE JOURNALISM SOLVES AN IMPORTANT STEP FOR YOU
You are writing because you have a question you want to answer, but how deeply do you want to answer it? This collaboration solves a really specific problem: how to interpret data effectively and why interpreting that data effectively matters. Most organizations have already done the work of distilling that data for you. It is, of course, important to fact check, but collaboration removes the first and more tedious process of consolidation and distillation of data.
PEOPLE TEND TO CONNECT MORE INTIMATELY WITH GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS
Right now, newsrooms have a big issue with media trust in the United States. A record low number of Americans trust major news sources such as The Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Trust in major cable news sources like CNN and Fox News is also very low. There are many barriers in the way of getting the message you want to get out now, particularly because of the trust problem conflicting with the way digital newsrooms interact with the public. However, getting your message out with a group not only sends a signal that you are working toward the truth, it actually gets the message out to the people who want to hear it.
CROSS-COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS EXERT PRESSURE
Consider the following observation from the Nieman Lab’s report on cross-collaborative journalism:
“If a cross-field collaboration is taking place, it generally means that “there is malfeasance, neglect, or some other unsavory activity occurring to which the individuals and organizations participating have decided to direct precious time and resources to bring to light.”
Overall, cross-collaborative journalism provides ample opportunity to do new and exciting things for yourself as a journalist as well as for the public, who crave more information that they can trust. Collaboration brings contacts, information, and connection, which is a win for any working journalist.
