| Summary: | As local media continue to face declining revenues and shrinking newsroom staffs, collaborative approaches may offer a vehicle for producing high-quality accountability journalism. This report is based on 31 interviews with key figures in high-profile collaborative journalism experiments in three countries. We found that all three collaborations feature diverse networks and are dedicated to creating connections to allow for knowledge-sharing, skills enhancement, and mentorship development. Participants suggest that collaboration has allowed them to report on topics they would not typically cover. The collaborations also embrace strategies that allow them to better engage with communities. Finally, we find that these collaborations face similar challenges, such as the need to develop a shared mission and goals, unite newsrooms with different ownership and funding models, teach local journalists how to use data reporting, agree upon shared distribution strategies, adapt their structures to the needs of participants, and find ways to measure their impact.
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