Collaborative Journalism, that is two or more publications working together to provide the news, is on the uprise. As stated in “The Reconstruction of American Journalism”, “A growing number of newspapers also are supplementing their reduced resources for news reporting by collaborating with other newspapers, new kinds of news organizations, and their own readers.” It goes on to give a list of media outlets that share state, business, sports, arts, and entertainment news reporting.
This is an important aspect to the evolution of journalism. By lessening the competition and increasing the output of your publication, you are giving a more accurate portrayal of the truth, which is what any ethical journalist should be focused on delivering. As an editor of DubEra.com, we do not shy from taking press releases, new music and biographies from other online magazines to give our viewers the perfect depiction of what is happening in the world of music relevant to our market. If the news is relevant, we must notify our consumers, despite being the first to strike on a story or new tune.
“Retreating from the World” by Jodi Enda claims that “the (Detroit) News relies on the Associate Press for most of its foreign news and on Bloomberg for business news from overseas.” News Managing Editor Don Nauss goes on to say “We aren’t aware of any significant complaints”, which I am assuming alludes to both the viewers and the competing news sources. This is a prime example of how working together can make the media a better, more trustful source for news. While Fox News might give you a right wing perspective and CNN might give you a left wing skew, usually blending both opinions together gives you an accurate picture of what is happening.
What does this mean for the future of journalism? Well it is both good and bad. On the bright side, in addition to the internet’s popularity, we are definitely moving forward to an age of truth. News stories are confirmed by other news outlets, twitter, facebook, etc. Unfortunately, the declining amount of journalists is an outcome of this and as an aspiring journalist, it is unsettling to know there are less foot reporters now than 15 years ago. I suppose I’ll have to look forward to new alternatives, adapt and outlast.