La digitalización en el periodismo E-Book

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales

• Herausgeber: Gedisa Editorial
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Spanisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 314

Beschreibung

El libro que el lector tiene en sus manos aborda los retos y oportunidades de la digitalización en los medios de comunicación y empresas periodísticas. Los estudios acometen desde una perspectiva contemporánea y prospectiva, cómo se adaptan a los nuevos desafíos y su incidencia en la esencia y valores de la profesión del periodismo. La obra ofrece un panorama sobre los nuevos modelos de negocio e iniciativas emprendedoras, su proyección tecnológica y de mercado, así como su impacto social. Asimismo, da a conocer nuevas formas de producción, distribución de información y cambio en la actividad comunicativa de las empresas frente a la inmersión digital que, tiene como eje central del proceso, a la audiencia. Finalmente, proporciona la realidad mediática digital en temas de género y política con casos específicos.

Leseprobe

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales (ed.)

LA DIGITALIZACIÓN EN EL PERIODISMO

Transformación, retos y oportunidades

Itinerarios y formas del ensayo audiovisual

NORBERTO MÍNGUEZ (ED.)

Narrativas transmediales

La metamorfosis del relato en los nuevos medios digitales

DOMINGO SÁNCHEZ-MESA (ED.)

Comunicar y educar en el mundo que viene

ROBERTO APARICI Y DAVID GARCÍA MARÍN

La divulgación científica

Estructuras y prácticas en las universidades

AGUSTÍN VIVAS MORENO, DANIEL MARTÍN PENA Y MACARENA PAREJO CUÉLLAR

La radio universitaria

Gestión de la información, análisis y modelos de organización

AGUSTÍN VIVAS MORENO, DANIEL MARTÍN PENA Y MACARENA PAREJO CUÉLLAR

Entre selfies y whatsapps

Oportunidades y riesgos para la infancia y la adolescencia conectada

MIGUEL ÁNGEL CASADO, ESTEFANÍA JIMÉNEZ Y MAIALEN GARMENDIA

Tendencias en comunicación

Cultura digital y poder

RAMÓN ZALLO ELGEZABAL

Serious Games for Health

Mejora tu salud jugando

YURI QUINTANA Y ÓSCAR GARCÍA

La educación mediática en la universidad española

JOAN FERRÉS PRATS Y MARIA-JOSE MASANET (EDS.)

Niños y jóvenes ante las redes y pantallas

M.ª AMOR PÉREZ-RODRÍGUEZ, ÁGUEDA DELGADO-PONCE, ROSA GARCÍA-RUIZ Y M.ª CARMEN CALDEIRO

Cultura Transmedia

HENRY JENKINS, SAM FORD Y JOSHUA GREEN

Periodismo y nuevos medios

Perspectivas y retos

SANTIAGO MARTÍNEZ ARIAS Y JOAQUÍN SOTELO GONZÁLEZ

La construcción de personajes audivisuales

Habilidades informativas

JOSÉ LUIS VALHONDO CREGO Y AGUSTÍN VIVAS MORENO

Mediaciones ubicuas

Ecosistema móvil, gestión de identidad y nuevo espacio público

JUAN MIGUEL AGUADO

La comunicación audiovisual en tiempos de pandemia

ENRIQUE BUSTAMANTE

MIQUEL FRANCÉS

GUILLERMO OROZCO (COORDS.)

LA DIGITALIZACIÓN EN EL PERIODISMO

Transformación, retos y oportunidades

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales (ed.)

Paz Aragüés Dufol

Teresa Barceló Ugarte

Daniel Barredo Ibáñez

Salomé Berrocal Gonzalo

James Breiner

Rafael Carrasco Polaino

Jose Antonio Cortés Quesada

Elba Díaz-Cerveró

Óscar Díaz Chica

Concha Edo Bolós

Manuel García-Borrego

Juan García-Cardon

Bernardo Gómez-Calderón

Laura González Díez

Javier Martos Moreno

Santiago Martínez Arias

Daniel Moya López

Antonia Isabel Nogales-Bocio

David Parra Valcarce

Antonio Pineda

Miguel Ángel Sánchez de la Nieta Hernández

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales

María Sánchez González

Bianca Sánchez Gutiérrez

Alejandro Tapia Frade

Karen Tatiana Pinto Garzón

Alicia Trelles Villanueva

© Editora: Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales

© Colaboran: Vicerrectorado de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla, Laboratorio de Proyectos en Comunicación (LabProCom) y Grupo de Investigación Análisis y Técnica de la Información (GIATI)

Cubierta: Juan Pablo Venditti

Primera edición: 2022

Derechos reservados para todas las ediciones en castellano

Sociedad Española de Periodística (SEP)

Apartado de Correos 8.384 28080 Madrid

www.periodistica.es

© Editorial Gedisa, S.A.

www.gedisa.com

Preimpresión: Fotocomposición gama, sl

ISBN: 978-84-18914-24-9

Queda prohibida la reproducción total o parcial por cualquier medio de impresión, en forma idéntica, extractada o modificada, en castellano o en cualquier otro idioma.

Índice

Prólogo

Salomé Berrocal Gonzalo

Transformaciones en el periodismo. Hacia la digitalización

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales

Collaboration not competition: the new global business model for public-service journalism

James Breiner

La inmersión digital como factor mediador de la incidencia de los medios de comunicación en el bienestar en tiempos de la COVID-19

Óscar Díaz Chica, Alejandro Tapia Frade, Paz Aragüés Dufol

Aspectos generales del emprendimiento en Colombia, Ecuador y México. Una entrevista en profundidad con emprendedores de la comunicación

Daniel Barredo Ibáñez, Karen Tatiana Pinto Garzón, Elba Díaz-Cerveró

La medición de televisión en España: propuesta para el cálculo de la audiencia híbrida total

Jose Antonio Cortés Quesada, Teresa Barceló Ugarte, Laura González Díez

Nuevos medios digitales, periodismo y propaganda: La Última Hora y el resurgir de la prensa de partido en España

Antonia Isabel Nogales-Bocio, Bianca Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Daniel Moya López, Antonio Pineda

Twitter como fuente de valor para el periodismo tradicional en las noticias de alcance

Miguel Ángel Sánchez de la Nieta Hernández, Alicia Trelles Villanueva, Rafael Carrasco Polaino

Emprendimiento en verificación periodística: fact-checkers hispanos

María Sánchez González, Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales, Javier Martos Moreno

La apuesta estratégica por los pódcast en la estructura productiva de los cibermedios nativos digitales españoles

David Parra Valcarce, Concha Edo Bolós, Santiago Martínez Arias

Gender gap en el periodismo especializado en literatura: explorando la visibilización de la mujer a través del caso de Babelia

Manuel García-Borrego, Bernardo Gómez-Calderón, Juan García-Cardona

Prólogo

Salomé Berrocal Gonzalo

El comienzo del siglo XXI es sinónimo de cambios mediáticos y, por ende, sociales. La sociedad denominada «de la información» en el siglo XX, por la presencia de Internet y el nacimiento de la Web 2.0, se ha transformado en la sociedad de la desinformación ante el auge de los bulos, fake news y boots que se producen y difunden con enorme celeridad en la aldea global que se ha conformado.

El papel del periodismo y del periodista quedan de día en día desdibujados ante la competencia en contenidos generados por prosumidores con afán de generar opinión en las redes sociales y de desinformadores profesionales que buscan el beneficio propio o de terceros, al generar mensajes automatizados que buscan confundir a la opinión pública.

En este marco mediático desequilibrado por el exceso de novedades y de falsas verdades se desenvuelve la profesión periodística, atenazada por los cambios que supone introducirse en el panorama digital y batirse con la ingente cantidad de estímulos que llegan a los ciudadanos en su día a día.

El libro La digitalización en el periodismo. Transformación, retos y oportunidades se incluye en el ámbito de las publicaciones que tratan de dar respuesta a algunos de los planteamientos que surgen a raíz del nuevo escenario mediático: cómo medir las audiencias, cómo innovar o emprender en la profesión periodística, cuáles son las ventajas de las herramientas digitales o qué posibilidades ofrecen los nuevos medios para mejorar el periodismo, la recepción informativa y luchar contra la desinformación.

Los ejes temáticos planteados en torno a la digitalización del periodismo avanzan en la idea de no perder la lucha y presentar batalla contra aquéllos que pretenden desinformar. El periodismo se erige, como lo hizo tradicionalmente, en la fuente de la información veraz, al mismo tiempo que la profesión se moderniza adaptándose al rápido avance tecnológico. Los formatos se transforman convirtiéndose en emisiones híbridas que se ubican en espacios mediáticos digitales y multiplican su voz en redes sociales. El periodista se dirige al usuario de manera personalizada, ya que es el consumidor quien decide qué consume, dónde y cuándo lo hace.

Los cambios en el periodismo van acompañados en este nuevo siglo de la respuesta que se espera del prosumidor, la audiencia convertida al fin en un agente dinámico, que puede responder al medio, al periodista o a la situación generada. Un periodista que cada vez puede conocer mejor a su cliente y un periodismo que se encuentra cada vez más próximo a su audiencia.

La sociedad del siglo XXI resulta adaptativa, cambiante, flexible, al sumergirse en un modelo comunicativo en continua transformación, pero al mismo tiempo es frágil ante el bombardeo desinformativo generado por aquellos emisores que utilizan las redes sociales y nuevos espacios web para alcanzar su cometido, el de desestabilizar a la opinión pública haciendo llegar contenidos falsos.

La actividad periodística reclama en las páginas de este libro su buen hacer, el que le da sentido: la oferta de una información veraz y de utilidad para el ciudadano, ajustada a las nuevas fórmulas que marcan el panorama mediático actual.

SALOMÉ BERROCAL-GONZALO

Catedrática de PeriodismoUniversidad de Valladolid

Transformaciones en el periodismo. Hacia la digitalización

Hada M. Sánchez Gonzales

La pandemia ha acelerado la digitalización de los medios de comunicación en los procesos de producción y distribución de la información, pero ¿existe una verdadera conciencia de adaptación? La digitalización en el periodismo es anterior a la llegada de Internet y se iniciaría con el uso de primitivos computadores en 1952. En la década de los noventa, los medios se adaptan a la web y, desde finales del siglo pasado, se han ido adecuando a los cambios abruptos y acelerados producidos por los avances tecnológicos en la sociedad.

Las organizaciones periodísticas han pasado por procesos de convergencia multimedia y cambios en las rutinas de los periodistas (Bocz­kowski, 2004; Salaverría y Negredo, 2008). De igual forma, se han enfrentado a modelos de innovación (Gynnild, 2014) para afrontar los nuevos desafíos y aprovechar las ventajas del mercado. A pesar de las transformaciones que han protagonizado los medios a lo largo de los años, en pleno siglo XXI, se enfrentan a procesos de mutación para lograr la madurez digital de su compañía.

Teorías como la sociedad red (Castells, 1996), mediamorfosis (Fidler, 1997), convergencia y cultura (Jenkins, 2006) y modernidad líquida (Bauman, 2013), nos hacen comprender los fenómenos sociales, culturales y mediáticos por los que ha ido pasando el periodismo y, en plena década de la inteligencia artificial (aprendizaje de máquinas), las empresas periodísticas se enfrentan a la transformación digital (Kane, 2017). Los medios deben avanzar de forma estratégica teniendo en cuenta la cultura digital de sus directivos y formación de sus trabajadores. Esto implica un cambio de mentalidad (Agarwal, 2020) y actitud para innovar con ayuda de la tecnología como un diferenciador estratégico y competitivo, pero en ningún caso, como un medio en sí mismo.

Así pues, la madurez digital de las empresas periodísticas debe ser entendida como la fase final de aprendizaje de la transformación digital y al que debe aspirar cualquier compañía para responder al entorno emergente. Es un proceso estratégico, dinámico y natural centrado en las personas y en cuatro áreas (Gill y VanBoskirk, 2016): tecnológico, de conocimiento, cultural y organizativo. En este sentido, Álvarez, Capelo y Álvarez (2019) destacan la estructura organizativa y la visión cultural de la institución como los más importantes. Las empresas periodísticas, por tanto, deben ser conscientes de la importancia de saber liderar y ejecutar la transformación digital evaluando el grado de madurez digital alcanzado.

La obra que el lector tiene en sus manos es el resultado de es­tudios de veintiséis académicos e investigadores que provienen de diferentes universidades a nivel mundial y que aportan nuevos cono­cimientos desde la periodística sobre las transformaciones del periodismo, de cara avanzar en el camino hacia la digitalización.

El libro consta de nueve capítulos e introducción, donde se especifica el objetivo y compendio de la obra. También cuenta con el prólogo firmado por Salomé Berrocal Gonzalo, presidenta de la Sociedad Española de Periodística (SEP) y catedrática de la Universidad de Valladolid.

Tres capítulos de la obra versan sobre emprendimiento y nuevos modelos de negocio en la esfera de la digitalización. El primero de ellos se centra en el modelo empresarial de colaboración empleado por el periodismo de servicio público. El autor del capítulo compara los modelos existentes y sus métodos que respaldan su viabilidad y, sobre todo, el impacto social, ya que no compiten con otros medios para lograr su sostenibilidad. El segundo capítulo analiza el emprendimiento en comunicación en Colombia, Ecuador y México a través de los emprendedores de esos países y en contextos similares desde el punto de vista cultural. Los autores identifican la carencia de conocimiento en el sistema educativo, así como información escasa o poco digerible para recibir apoyo por parte de sus gobiernos. Otro de los capítulos está relacionado con el periodismo emprendedor en iniciativas de fact-checking de habla hispana de la red de verificadores de la International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Los autores revelan un ecosistema emprendedor de logros, oportunidades y sostenibilidad de estos medios que, por lo general, cumplen con la función social centrada en la alfabetización mediática e información de calidad.

Dos de los capítulos del libro también hacen referencia a las nuevas formas de producción y distribución de la información. El primero de ellos hace alusión a la incorporación del formato de audio en las noticias, es decir, al uso del podcast como herramienta estratégica para diversificar los contenidos de los medios de comunicación. El segundo capítulo tiene que ver con la cobertura de las noticias en tiempo real por parte de los medios de comunicación, a través de la red social Twitter. Los autores identifican los valores que aportan esos contenidos a los usuarios.

Las audiencias activas y el cambio en la actividad comunicativa de las empresas periodísticas, también tiene cabida en la obra. Uno de los capítulos se centra en la incidencia positiva de los medios de comunicación frente a la inmersión digital y vulnerabilidad psicológica de los nativos, migrantes y generaciones Z e Y provocada por la COVID-19. Los autores proponen medidas que favorecen la mediación de las empresas periodísticas en este tipo de situaciones. Otro capítulo aborda el uso de técnicas de medición acorde a la audiencia híbrida en la televisión española. Los autores apuestan por la medición híbrida, frente a las existentes, porque unifica los datos de los diferentes actores implicados en el cálculo de la audiencia televisiva y ofrece información completa.

La digitalización y las temáticas sobre política y estudio de género se abordan en dos de los capítulos del libro. En uno de ellos, los autores señalan que las tecnologías han permitido que el modelo de la prensa partidista se restaure en la actualidad. Analizan el caso del periódico nativo digital La Última Hora y señalan que su discurso no está exento de intereses partidistas hacia la formación política de Podemos. Otro de los capítulos se centra en el estudio de género sobre la presencia de la mujer literata en la información cultural española a través del suplemento Babelia. Los autores revelan que la tendencia indica un avance hacia la paridad, aunque la serie histórica demuestra un trato desigual hacia la mujer.

Referencias

Agarwal, R. (2020). «Digital Transformation: A Path to Economic and Societal Value», en Revista CEA, 6(12), págs. 9-12. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.22430/24223182.1700

Álvarez Marcos, J., Capelo Hernández, M. y Álvarez Ortiz, J. I. (2019). «La madurez digital de la Prensa española. Estudio de caso», en Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74, págs. 499-520. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1342

Bauman, Z. (2013). Liquid modernity, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Boczkowski, P. J. (2004). «The processes of adopting multimedia and interactivity in three online newsrooms», en Journal of communication, 54 (2), págs. 197-213. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2004.tb02624.x

Castells, M. (1996). The information age: Economy, society and culture. The rise of the network society (I), Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.

Fidler, R. (1997). Mediamorphosis: Understanding new media, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Gynnild, A. (2014). «Journalism innovation leads to innovation journalism: The impact of computational exploration on changing mindsets», en Journalism, 15(6), págs. 713-730. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884913486393

Gill, M. y Van Boskirk, S. (2016). «The Digital Maturity Model 4.0», en Forrester.com. Disponible en: https://www.forrester.com/report/The-Digital-Maturity-Model-40/RES130881

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture. Where old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2hInf10

Kane, G. C. (2017). «Digital Maturity, Not Digital Transformation», en MITSloan. Disponible en: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/digital-maturity-not-digital-transformation/

Salaverría, R. y Negredo, S. (2008). Periodismo integrado: Convergencia de medios y reorganización de redacciones, Sol90 Media, Barcelona.

Collaboration not competition: the new global business model for public-service journalism

James Breiner1

Abstract: Public-service journalism, which serves the information needs of citizens in a democratic society rather than merely entertaining or distracting them, has had a shrinking share of voice in the profit-driven information ecosystem. The objective of this study is to show that in response to this trend, media organizations around the world have accelerated adoption of a business model of collaboration rather than competition with other media in order to achieve sustainability. Much of the trend began from the bottom up. Reporters frustrated by censorship of their investigations by employers or government started digital networks to share data and content across borders. Large and small publishers have been teaming up to share resources and risks. They use a strategy in which they act less like for-profit businesses and more like public-service organizations. And they are pulling in partners that normally serve the nonprofit sector, such as public broadcasters, philanthropists, foundations, and NGOs. The study will document the latest examples of collaboration around the world that have been surfaced by organizations and institutes that specialize in supporting development of quality journalism. It will identify four major collaboration models and compare their methods of supporting financial viability. It will also compare how these models attempt to create community impact and social change.

Keywords: public-service journalism, social impact, collaboration, business models, sustainability.

1. Introduction

In economic terms, public-service journalism has little or no exchange value. It is a public good, meaning that the market does not provide an adequate supply to meet the demand in a democratic society (Picard, 2018). The collaborative business model in public-service journalism responds to this scarcity of supply, and it is not new. As Lewis reminds us (2017), the Associated Press, a nonprofit news cooperative, began in the 19th century to provide news about the Mexican-American War. Investigative journalists have collaborated for decades. They recognized that they needed to develop international data-sharing networks, since criminal organizations were taking advantage of legal barriers that hampered cross-border investigations by law enforcement, and multinational corporations were avoiding taxes by locating their headquarters in business-friendly havens (Koch, 2017). These collaborations often began from the ground up rather than the top down. Reporters and editors published their work outside conventional channels after being censored by their own publishers or by governments’ intent on suppressing information about corruption and crime (Heft, 2021; Graves & Konieczna, 2015).

Media organizations have begun to recognize that audiences can be an important collaborator through crowdsourcing of data, such as ProPublica has done with its investigations on health care (Parris, 2018). They also have potential to be an important source of news tips and content, whether from bystander photos and videos uploaded to social media or from subject-area experts who could provide depth to coverage of particular topics of public interest (Barnes, 2012; Hermida, 2012).

However, the pace of collaboration has accelerated since the advent of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, which saw many news organizations abruptly shift their business models toward generating revenue from users as a way of compensating for massive losses in advertising, their previous main revenue source (Newman, 2021).

2. Theoretical framework

The theoretical basis of this research builds on the definition of three concepts: the aforementioned media collaboration, public-service journalism, and business models as applied to media. The latter two theoretical concepts are explored in Medina et al. (2021). The definition of public-interest journalism used here comes from Deuze (2005), who identified its essential elements as the profession’s shared codes of objectivity, fairness, trustworthiness, independence, social responsibility, and ethical sensibility. In terms of a business model for journalism, Medina et al. followed the concept of Chesbrough (2010), who stipulated that a business model must articulate the value proposition, identify a market segment and revenue generation mechanism, select the firm’s position in the value chain, estimate the cost structure and the profit potential, and formulate the competitive strategy.

2.1. Relevance: public-service news in crisis

Many legacy news brands have fewer resources each year, and, as a consequence, they have entered into a downward spiral of diminishing quality delivered (Díaz-Noci, 2019). The scarcity of trustworthy journalism that serves the public interest has aggravated many societal ills and undermined the role of the media as a pillar of democratic society.

The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2020 explores the current status of public-service journalism in a global context. It includes data reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis on media consumption habits, the tendency to pay for news, and trust in the news. Advertising has fallen drastically during the crisis, as much as 50% at some publications, many of which have cut back on printed copies and reduced staff, which impacts the capacity to produce high-cost quality news. The Reuters data showed a years-long decline in trust in the news in most of the 40 countries included in the survey. However, in a six-country survey taken a month after the pandemic began, consumers showed a tendency to trust traditional news sources, including TV, radio, print, and digital (the countries were UK, US, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and Argentina).

The rapid decline in ad revenue has forced more media organizations to turn toward user funding, mainly subscriptions, but previous Reuters surveys show that the tendency to pay for online news is only around 10-13% of consumers. That percentage appears to be inadequate to finance journalism going forward, forcing media to look for support elsewhere.

Media organizations and journalists in the past accepted as given that the public valued their work product’s public-service value. Now they appear to be waking up to the fact that they need to sell that value to the public. Notable news brands have begun making trustworthiness and editorial independence part of their value propositions as they campaign for donations and subscriptions. In Spain, elDiario.es, an 8-year-old startup focused on investigative and explanatory journalism, adopted the slogan “journalism in spite of everything,” in which “everything” is understood as political propaganda and suppression of news that reveals corruption. During the pandemic, elDiario.es saw the number of paying “partners” soar to more than 60,000, a digital subscription total higher than all other media in Spain except El Pais, the country’s leading daily. In France, Mediapart, a subscription-only, nonprofit investigative journalism website with more than 200,000 subscribers, is one of the country’s eight most-trusted news organizations, according to Reuters 2020, and its subscription slogan of “choose independence” emphasizes that their ad-free format makes them beholden to no special interests. Marketing messages of The Guardian in the UK make the publication appear to be more like a charity than a corporate media organization: at the top and the bottom of its web page is a banner with the message, “Support The Guardian, available for everyone, funded by readers”, followed by an appeal to “contribute” or “subscribe”. Then we have the Washington Post’s slogan, “democracy dies in darkness” to remind current and potential subscribers that freedom of information is a pillar of liberal democracy and needs financial support.

Local news in particular has suffered globally. The Reuters 2020 report forecast “an uncertain future” for local news organizations, given the decline in advertising revenue and the tendency for users to subscribe only to national rather than local publications (p. 23). In line with that, a Pew study in the US found that while local news outlets were struggling, the public at large (71%) thought that they were “doing well financially” and only 14% had paid for local news (2019). These data points help explain why the producers of public-service journalism have turned to collaboration as a strategy for economic viability.

3. Objectives and methodology

The first objective of this study is to identify common strategies for collaboration among media whose mission includes public-service journalism, either as a minor or major component of their value proposition. Identifying these strategies and the organizations that have adopted them will help support the hypothesis that collaboration is an important business model for ensuring the viability of public-service journalism. The second objective of this study, which also supports the hypothesis, is to compare the objectives, strategies, and social impact of four different types of collaborative models and highlight elements that could be replicated elsewhere. As Doyle proposed (2013, p. 1), “the experience of some players indicates commonalities of experience that offer potentially valuable lessons for media businesses all over the world”.

The media brands and organizations chosen for the 12 case studies presented here were among those highlighted by organizations and publications recognized internationally for focusing on media development of quality journalism and sustainability. Among sources consulted were publications of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Nieman Lab, Media Sustainability Index, Poynter Institute, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Media Development Investment Fund, Reporters without Borders, International Center for Journalists, IREX Media Sustainability Index, SembraMedia, Newsguard trust ratings, and media and tech industry publications such as DigiDay, Ad Age, Tech Crunch, and reCode. Although the author has interviewed founders or directors of some of the 12 case studies, no systematic questionnaire or structured interview was used.

The primary collaboration strategies identified in this study are:

• Sharing of financial data from public databases to aid investigative journalism (“follow the money”)

• Sharing of anonymized, aggregated data on users’ online behavior and preferences to refine subscription or advertising offers and generate revenue (machine learning)

• Translating and sharing content freely to amplify cross-border impact

• Cost-reduction by consolidating administrative services such as human resources management, accounting, and libel insurance

• Resource sharing: software, facilities, equipment, training, expertise, content management systems, customer relationship management

• Collaborating with the audience to provide content, such as photos and videos, and provide story ideas and investigative tips

• Bringing technology experts into news organizations to improve techniques of research, data visualization, design, and distribution

• Spreading risk and avoiding censorship by simultaneously publishing sensitive stories in multiple countries on multiple media platforms

The three main categories of media collaborations described here in the 12 case studies are:

• Investigative journalism networks

• Public-service journalism networks

• Trade associations

While these three collaboration types differ in strategies and tactics, they have points of overlap, as media organizations experiment and innovate in an environment of disruption and dynamic change. Investigative journalism networks link for-profit and nonprofit public-service organizations to share data and content. Public-service journalism networks make their social mission explicit and rely mostly on a nonprofit funding model of foundations and individual donations. Trade associations include a public-service mission in their objectives but focus more on cost reduction and revenue generation strategies.

An additional factor in choosing these 12 organizations was their significance either because of the number of member countries (100 in the case of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), the number of participants (3,000 media in the case of the Local Media Association), or the prestige of their brands (the Leading European Newspaper Alliance).

In addition to these three collaboration types, a fourth type of arm’s-length collaboration is offered by what might be described as catalyst organizations, which will be discussed separately. They provide funding and resources to publishers and broadcasters but are not themselves publishing content.

4. Analysis of the results

Data related to the 12 case studies was collected and is summarized in Table 1, below. It includes information about the organizations as well as their primary collaboration strategies and tactics. Each of them was categorized according to one of the three models: investigative journalism, public-service journalism, or trade association. The 12 case studies chosen produce some strange bedfellows, such as fierce competitors agreeing to collaborate on content sharing, traditional print and broadcast brands teamed with small digital natives, and for-profits working with nonprofits. Such apparently incongruous partnerships tend to promote innovation. As Lewis and Usher point out in their study of the Hacks/Hackers collaborations between journalists and technical experts, innovation does not arise from homogeneous cooperation (p. 385).

Because the fourth collaboration model —catalyst organizations— involves general support and contracting through third parties, its examples did not fit the criteria of Table 1 and will be described later in the text.

Table 1. Major collaborations in public-service journalism, sorted by year founded

Organization

Year founded

Org. type

Network members, partners

Countries

Employees

Annual revenue (in millions of US$)*

Local Media Association

1971

Trade assn.

3,000 media orgs.

International

17

na

European Journalism Centre

1992

Public service

300+ media orgs.

International

21

$8.3

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

1997

Invest. journalism

267 journalists 100 media orgs.

100

37

$3.0

Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)

2003

Invest. journalism

211 media orgs.

82

31

$1.57

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

2003

Invest. journalism

140+ journalists 50 media orgs.

38

55

$9.1

Institute for Nonprofit News (INN)

2009

Public service

300 media orgs. 2,500 journalists

International

5

$4.6

LION Publishers

2012

Trade assn.

300 media orgs.

US, Canada

6

$0.7

Solutions Journalism Network

2013

Public service

177 media orgs. 30 journalism schools

13

52

$9.4

SembraMedia

2015

Public service

877 media orgs.

22

8

$0.5

Leading European Newspaper Alliance

2015

Trade assn.

8 newspapers

7

na

na

American Journalism Project

2019

Public service

22 local news orgs.

US

19

$9.2

Alayans Media

2020

Trade assn.

13 media orgs.

Spain

na

na

Primary collaboration or sharing tactics

Organization

Content

Data for investigations

Client data for commerce

Resources, administrative

Risk/legal

Training

Local Media Association

+

+

+

+

European Journalism Centre

+

+

+

+

+

+

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

+

+

+

+

Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)

+

+

+

+

+

+

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

+

+

+

+

Institute for Nonprofit News (INN)

+

+

+

+

+

LION Publishers

+

+

+

+

+

Solutions Journalism Network

+

+

+

+

+

SembraMedia

+

+

+

+

+

Leading European Newspaper Alliance

+

+

+

American Journalism Project

+

+

+

+

+

Alayans Media

+

Sources: annual reports and websites of the organizations themselves, news releases, and news reports.

* figures come from 2020 or 2019 annual reports

org. - organization

na - not available

Plus symbol + means explicitly part of collaboration activities

Catalyst and funder organizations such as Google, Facebook, BBC, and Deutsche Welle are not included; their data don’t fit this format.

4.1. Strategies of collaboration

This section lists the main strategies of collaboration of the 12 case studies and the reasons for their selection. It is not as easy to measure the impact of collaborations as it is to measure the results of a for-profit business with its income statement and balance sheet. The collaborative organizations often are funded by foundations and NGOs that tend to justify their value by listing totals of activities completed and people served rather than measuring change and outcomes. Desired impacts on society, by their nature, tend to be long term and harder to quantify. Still, some of the organizations profiled give evidence of social impact and change.

4.1.1. Investigative journalism networks

Investigative journalists were among the first to recognize the advantages of collaboration since they were pushed by censorship, hard and soft, to innovate inside and outside their media organizations. They have produced among the most visible manifestations of journalism collaboration along with some of the most tangible impact in the public sphere. Media organizations that participate range from large for-profit traditional print and broadcast media to small nonprofit digital natives focused on narrow geographical niches.

4.1.1.1. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

The name of the organization says a lot: it is driven by journalists, from the ground up. It counts 267 journalists among its members, and it partners with more than 100 news media organizations in 100 countries. It is most famous for its work on the Panama Papers in 2016. That project was published in hundreds of media simultaneously and revealed a global financial network of corruption enablers. Its FinCen (financial centers) Files project included the work of 188 media partners in 88 countries who shared sensitive files through secure connections to reveal how major banks —including JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC— engaged in “industrial-scale money laundering” to move more than US$ 2 trillion in transactions they themselves reported to the US government as suspicious. These transactions were linked to corrupt officials, Ponzi schemes, human trafficking, drug cartels, arms traffickers, and other international criminals, but because of a loophole in US law, the reports came too late for US authorities to stop the transactions (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 2020, pp. 10-11). However, the FinCen Files report led the US Congress, with bipartisan support, to pass a law requiring companies “to report their true owners—largely eliminating anonymous shell companies in the country. Political leaders credited the FinCEN Files with making reform possible after years of inaction” (ICIJ, 2020, p. 13). ICIJ’s annual revenue is US$ 3 million, and it has 37 employees.

4.1.1.2. Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)

The Global Investigative Journalism Network describes itself as “an international association of journalism organizations that support the training and sharing of information among investigative and data journalists—with special attention to those from repressive regimes and marginalized communities” (GIJN, 2021).

Its key activities include: providing resources and networking services to investigative journalists in 12 languages (Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, French, English, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, and Portuguese); running a help desk and rapid response team; and organizing and promoting training conferences and workshops. GIJN oversees the activities of 211 member organizations in 82 countries and sponsors dozens of training events every year. It lists 31 people on its staff and reported a surprisingly modest annual revenue of US$ 1.57 million. GIJN details the social, legal, and financial impact of some of its members in its Investigative Impact report (2017).

4.1.1.3. Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

OCCRP operates in 38 countries in Europe, Central Asia, and Africa, and lists more than 50 partner organizations which themselves have networks (OCCRP, 2021a). A major part of their mission is combating censorship by publishing their investigations of corruption simultaneously in many different countries. OCCRP specializes in the sharing of data across borders by tracking the activities of banks, law firms, registration agents, and lobbyists that have aided criminal networks. An example of their work is OpenLux, an investigation of companies registered in the tax haven of Luxembourg. The partners’ research produced a series of articles showing that known criminals, arms dealers, oligarchs, and relatives of political figures around the world had opened companies in Luxembourg and used them “to hide, move, and launder millions in money, stocks, and other assets” (OCCRP, 2021b).

In May 2021, OCCRP summarized the direct impact of its investigations this way: 181 civic actions taken, 525 government actions, 100 corporate actions, US$ 7.3 billion in fines levied and money seized by authorities, and 129 resignations and sackings, including a president, a prime minister, and company CEOs (OCCRP, 2021c). OCCRP’s latest annual report showed revenue of US$ 9.1 million and 55 staff.

OCCRP also illustrates the importance of having adequate legal protection when investigating corruption. The organization was sued in the UK by an Azerbaijani businessman and member of parliament who was mentioned in their project on a money-laundering network that moved billions of dollars through shell companies around the world (Radu, 2020). UK’s libel laws are particularly friendly to plaintiffs and burdensome for news organizations. In the UK, a publisher, as defendant, has to prove that its allegations against a plaintiff are true or are published in the public interest, not merely to defame the plaintiff. By contrast, in the US, an aggrieved plaintiff has to prove that the published information is false or was published with reckless disregard of whether it was true or false. Ultimately, the UK case was settled, but it required enormous time and legal resources to fight the case. Fortunately, OCCRP had the help of a pro-bono law firm.

4.1.2. Public-service journalism organizations

Public-service journalism organizations that have a nonprofit model have been multiplying rapidly in the US and Europe. This is a response to print and broadcast media’s drastic cuts in staff and resources dedicated to public-service journalism, which has high costs and generates little advertising revenue or even alienates some advertisers.

In the US, which has a long tradition of private philanthropy, foundations and individual donors have responded to the crisis. Public broadcasters in Europe and other regions that have been leaders in supplying news and information in the public interest have stepped up to fill some of the gaps with collaborations. These organizations generally do not aggregate data on the social impact of their members’ work the way that investigative journalism groups do.

4.1.2.1. The Institute for Nonprofit News

INN’s declared mission is to build a nonprofit news network that ensures all people in every community in the US, Canada, and their territories have access to trustworthy news. It provides education and business support services to its 300 nonprofit member organizations, and it promotes the value of public-service and investigative journalism. During 2020, 80 percent of INN’s expenses went to member programming and services, with 13 percent of those program costs being direct pass-throughs to member organizations or fees paid on their behalf. It had revenue of US$ 4.6 million in 2020 (Institute for Nonprofit News, 2021).

4.1.2.2. Solutions Journalism Network

Solutions journalism has been defined as going beyond the description of a social problem to showing how communities have succeeded or failed at dealing with it. The Solutions Journalism Network was founded in the US in 2013 with the goal of making public-service journalism an agent of change in democratic societies through training programs and sharing of resources. It is one of the biggest collaborative organizations, with 52 employees and a budget of US$ 9.4 million (2021). It operates in 13 countries and partners with and 177 media organizations to offer training and development resources. Thirty journalism schools are using their curricula.

4.1.2.3. American Journalism Project

The project’s co-founder, John Thornton, is a civic-minded billionaire who was worried that the devastating cuts in local news coverage in communities around the country were having a negative impact on the public-service function of the press. He had provided startup capital for the nonprofit digital native Texas Tribune. Its success encouraged him to look for partners to replicate the project in other communities. In 2021, the American Journalism Project listed 22 local news organizations that it was supporting in the US with US$ 40 million raised since its founding in 2019.

4.1.2.4. The European Journalism Centre

The Centre is an independent nonprofit with a budget of US$ 8.3 million and 21 employees. It offers programs to help journalism organizations build resilience in five areas: freedom of expression, funding, leadership, new forms of storytelling, and digital innovation. It sponsors training workshops and events around the world as well as offering training materials in 15 languages (European Journalism Centre, 2020).

4.1.2.5. Public-service broadcasters