Collaborations Now Essential For Survival, News Leaders Say
Executives from Scripps News, Gray Television, NBCUniversal Local and ProPublica told a NewsTECHForum panel last week that their cross-group collaborations, as well as with organizations outside their own, have become critical to delivering on their news mission and their viability.
News executives at Nexstar, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, Fox Television Stations and ABC Owned Stations told a TVNewsCheck panel last week that collaborating more frequently between stations and their national news products is yielding important lessons about people and tech, not to mention better quality news.
In South Bend, A TV-Newspaper News Partnership Takes Off
Gray-owned WNDU has partnered with the Gannett-owned South Bend Tribune to share content and collaborate on a wide array of reporting projects. The upshot has been a win-win for both outlets and the broader “Michiana” community, says the Tribune’s executive editor. Read a full report here in addition to the video above.
For TV Station Groups, National Collaborations Increase And Improve
Station groups including Gray, E.W. Scripps and Nexstar are increasingly drawing on their stations to contribute stories for their national reporting projects. The ensuing collaborations are having a transformative effect on news production. Pictured: Susan Campbell reporting a story for one of Gray Television’s “consumer franchises” — Did You Know? — from KOLD Tucson.
Data show the growth of the system’s newsrooms and investments in new formats and partnerships.
TV-Radio Collaboration A Win-Win In Fort Wayne
The partnership between WPTA-TV and WBOI-FM is designed to share areas of mutual expertise between the two stations that will serve a wider audience. “To me, a trade is very cost effective,” says Terra Brantley, WBOI’s president. “It is a win-win for the community.”
Exclusives
Takeaways from combining a radio, TV, newspaper and magazine staff into one space for collaboration.
Is It Time For You To Find A News Partner?
Two TV newsrooms in Denver prove that collaboration doesn’t have to be rocky.
Since its debut in June, the Florida Climate Reporting Network has sparked interest from a growing number of media outlets — even beyond Florida. The network is emblematic of a trend that’s been seen throughout the cash-strapped news business: A collaborative streak. Competitors are teaming up on certain projects while still competing on other stories. The editors hope that readers are the beneficiaries.
You can make the collaboration concept work for your news organization by planning a study of your audiences, putting them in useful groups, reaching relevant audience members in meaningful ways, and developing relationships with them.
News Collaboration Becomes More Urgent
Kevin Davis, CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, argues that a key way to avoid cheaper, commoditized and less locally-targeted news content is collaboration. Larger news organizations can bring audience to the table, while smaller, nimbler organizations can serve the public through specialized reporting and a range of programming, data visualization and other data skills. The examples of effective collaboration are proliferating, he says, and the benefits serve both the media and the public.
