Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies - Volume 8, Issue 2, 2019

This special issue of Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies sheds light on the hitherto under-investigated emerging practice of cross-border collaborative journalism. It aims to define it, conceptualize it and hopefully operationalize it. For this purpose, cross-border collaborative journalism practice is defined widely, and contributors come from both academia and journalism practice. This introduction notes the context of the emerging practice, introduces the articles of this special issue and points to further research questions.

Europe has a rich heritage of diverse languages, political cultures, enlightenment traditions and, consequently, frameworks of journalism idea(l)s based on different understandings of its tasks, audiences and position in society. As yet, however, the addition of a cross-border dimension to journalism has not resulted in the development of cross-border collaborations along correspondingly diverse lines. The recent rise of journalistic cross-border collaboration seems much indebted to the muckraking tradition of reporting, rooted in the decades when populism was coined as a positive, anti-elitist term in the United States. Targeting corrupt practices, muckrakers have traditionally been committed to exposing liars, frauds, crooks - wrong ones - in politics and business. This is useful to society at large but insufficient if compared to aims of stimulating, across borders, critical public reflection and exchange about international public affairs. Because it may generate self-righteousness in its practitioners and audiences, it might even hamper such practices, dependent as they are on a capacity for self-critical appraisal among participants. What would cross-border collaboration look like if connected to, for instance, the logic of publizist journalism with its affinity for intellectually challenging political debate and its capacity for scrutinizing stereotypes? Why has it not evolved? What might be done to further a diversity of approaches to journalistic cross-border collaboration? Also, might shared attention to the concept of cosmopolitanism be helpful to that purpose?

This article argues that the dominant tradition of journalism that places the reporter as a mere observer to events, power relations and global hierarchies is unfit as a working model for cross-border collaboration teams. By reversing the perspective of research, it investigates how the ‘neutral‘ position of journalism itself has been shaped by historical context, story-telling traditions, iconic imageries and naturalized assumptions that have influenced its view of the world. With the goal of initiating a knowledge transfer, this article explores key concepts from Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Theory to apply them to contemporary journalism practices.

Although journalism has long been considered a profession of lone wolves, its present and future is shaped by collaborative practices of various kinds. The investigation of the Panama Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its more than 100 media partners worldwide is an impressive example of collaborative journalism across media, language and national borders. This article focuses on the impact of such cross-border journalism projects on the transnationalization of public communication in digital media environments. It addresses the question of what kind of ‘networked public sphere’ was created by the revelations of the Panama Papers, exemplified by the communication structures that evolved on the networking platform Twitter. Digital media such as Twitter have the potential to constitute more grounded public spheres than traditional media and to foster interconnections between different publics across national and language barriers. We trace whether or not the transnational collaborative Panama Papers investigation paved the way for a networked public sphere characterized by (1) transnational attention to the issue and (2) transnational interconnections through Twitter users interacting across country and language boundaries and thereby contributing to global public communication.

Investigative journalism across national borders is well known for the large projects, initiated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), with hundreds of reporters in many countries who collaborate to produce coverage such as the Panama Papers. However, there are also many examples in the field of global investigative journalism that are microcosms of their larger counterparts. These smaller or ‘microcosm’ cross-border collaborations are instigated and carried out by a small group of reporters, possibly including freelance reporters. Like their larger counterparts, ‘microcosm investigations’ can also lead to sociopolitical change and thus are deservedly classified as investigative journalism. Microcosm investigations can therefore be viewed as part of a suggested global fourth estate that is calling power to account. The purpose of the article is to examine the characteristics of ‘microcosm’-oriented global investigative journalism and to demonstrate the similarities and differences compared with its larger and more visible counterpart. The empirical material consists of interviews with Australian journalists who were shortlisted as finalists and who won national journalism awards, sponsored by the Walkley Foundation. The findings indicate that new technologies that enable cross-border collaboration are enabling the emergence of a global fourth estate. In the concluding discussion it is argued that for the expansion and mainstreaming of global investigative journalism, the multiple small-scale projects undertaken should collectively be viewed as equally important, if not more important, than the fewer but larger and better-known collaborations. Microcosm collaborations offer opportunities for the proliferation of cross-border media coverage that can be accomplished even by relatively small media outlets.

This article explores the collaborative exchange programme that both authors have been involved in as the faculty supervisors for more than fifteen years. In this programme students from the US and Russian universities come together to write, design and produce a media project at each other’'s campuses. From working as an international team, students from both countries practice journalism skills and learn about different cultural and professional traditions, which cannot be reproduced in textbooks or classrooms. In the study, which includes survey responses from 61 former programme participants, the authors measure the success of the programme in two main areas: as a highly impactful study-abroad experience and its ability to foster collaboration and cooperation in journalism education across borders. Based on the responses to the survey, the authors were able to evaluate the long-lasting impact on the students who participate, indicating that during the process they gain not only valuable journalistic skills but also cross-cultural experiences that have a positive impact on their future careers.