Negotiating Roles and Routines in Collaborative Investigative Journalism

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the practice of investigative journalism has been reconstructed via the rise of journalistic networks around the world that have layered collaboration atop what had long been an individual pursuit. Among the recent successes of collaborative investigative journalism was the cross-border effort to expose the tax haven leaks that included the Panama Papers (2016). Due to such notable accomplishments, research on cross-border collaboration is increasing, but the ways in which this pooling of resources, time, and networks has impacted practice on a daily basis remain under-investigated. This article looks at how organizations and actors in emerging and legacy newsrooms are negotiating their routines and roles while developing new practices in investigative journalism. It uses three organizations as cases: Bristol Cable, a journalistic co-op operating at the community/local level; the Bureau Local, a local/national data-coordinating news desk; and <em>The Guardian</em>, a legacy media company that has long operated at the national/global level. This article finds that, in the transitions of traditional organizations and journalists and the emergence of new innovative organizations and non-journalistic actors, actors involved in collaborative investigative journalism deploy a language of justification regarding rules between the new and the old. It also finds that concepts such as coordination are part of this negotiation, and that knowledge and knowledge generation are taking place within a traditional understanding of journalism, as the “new” is normalized over time.

Data Journalism in favela: Made by, for, and about Forgotten and Marginalized Communities

“…Therefore, to overcome the lack of staff and resources, cooperation and partnerships with other organizations become the operational norm for Agência Mural. This result correlates well with previous studies where collaboration emerges among stakeholders aligned in terms of interests (Franklin 2014;Konow-Lund 2019).…”

“…Most of the recent outstanding investigative journalism projects worldwide were based on cooperation (Buzenberg 2015). Those investigations, such as the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, and Swiss Leaks, have produced long-lasting global effects that can still be seen in society today, years after their release (Graves and Shabbir 2019;Konow-Lund 2019). For example, the Panama Papers are considered one of the most successful collaborative efforts ever performed in journalism and would never happen in the competitive media model.…”

Between Structures and Identities: Newsroom Policies, Division of Labor and Journalists’ Commitment to Investigative Reporting

“…It has also attempted to underline how legitimacy is intertwined with organizational and managerial policies. In the line with current research on boundary work, the social identity of journalists and journalistic roles (Carlson 2015;Ferrucci et Vos 2017;Konow-Lund 2019;Hanitzsch et Vos 2016), more research from the interactionist sociological perspective (Becker 1963) is needed on the insider/outsider dynamic in the context of investigative reporting management, which remains a blind spot in the literature to date. Furthermore, while this paper has used innovation and organizational theory to help explain the impact of investigative policies on journalists' ability to conduct investigative journalism, additional research is still required to better map the relationship between such policies and organizational and knowledge performance from a knowledge theory perspective (Pihl-Thingvad 2015;Alvesson 2004), particularly in light of the tensions observed between professional and organizational cultures.…”

“…Another dimension of this highly normative and multidimensional debate involves the current and increasing tension between high-profile international investigations, which have drawn more scholarly attention, and less repercussive local and regional watchdog reporting (Hamilton 2016;Konow-Lund 2019). This article will attempt to show that reporters' attitudes toward investigative journalism in newsrooms with regard to the complex relationship between investigative journalism and daily news, and competing claims to investigative legitimacy, are rooted in this tension.…”

Space for the Liminal

“…Conversely, and in drawing from a practice theory inspired ethnographic study with three newsrooms, Konow-Lund (2019) proposes that networks of social actors involved in global investigative stories are creating emerging epistemologies, norms, values, and practices unique to their act of coordination. Likewise, Chua and Duffy (2019) show that there is a growing salience of hybrid roles in Singaporean legacy news media that serve as "linchpins to connect divergent professional fields" and "bridges between tradition and innovation" (p. 112).…”