Cross-Border Collaborative Journalism: A Step-By-Step Guide

Cross-Border Collaborative Journalism is a detailed guide to transnational reporting, a cutting-edge journalistic strategy. In the twenty-first century, the most pressing political and social issues, such as financial crises, wealth inequality, migration flows and environmental collapse, transcend national borders. In reaction, journalists are increasingly collaborating across the globe to produce impactful and in-depth reporting. Recent agenda-setting cross-border collaborations include LuxLeaks, Panama Papers and Football Leaks.

Brigitte Alfter takes the reader, step-by-step, through the history of cross-border collaborative journalism and the current working practices behind it. The book draws from the author’s own experience, as well as exclusive interviews with other pioneers of cross-border journalism, and notable case studies are integrated throughout.

Chapters cover:

• Managing intercultural communication
• Effectively utilising a network of sources
• Choosing the initial story idea
• Fact-checking for cross-border publication
• Adapting the findings to different audiences and to different types of media
• Legal and security considerations for a cross-border team.

By providing the essential practical skills for transnational reporting, Cross-Border Collaborative Journalism encourages students of journalism and practitioners to undertake their own collaborative projects. It highlights the importance of this exciting new journalistic form to answering the defining questions of our time.

Brigitte Alfter is an award-winning German-Danish journalist. She has practiced journalism at local, national and European level before setting up European support structures for cross-border journalism. Today she combines journalism practice, journalism networking and academic research.