Passaic Today

The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University has secured a $2.5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This funding aims to bolster journalism collaboratives across the United States, marking a notable expansion in the Center's collaborative journalism efforts.

This five-year grant will facilitate the establishment of the Collaborative Media Resource Hub, which will support 20 journalism collaboratives. The initiative is designed to provide significant assistance to both new and existing U.S.-based collaborative projects, with an emphasis on developing sustainable models for local news collaboration that benefit their communities directly.

“This transformative investment from Knight Foundation will allow us to significantly scale our work in collaborative journalism at a critical time for local news in the United States,” said Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media. “We’ve spent years studying and supporting collaborative journalism initiatives, and we know that when news organizations work together, they can better serve their communities while building stronger, more sustainable operations.”

The new grant builds on previous efforts under a Knight-funded program called the Local Media Project. This project was managed by Solutions Journalism Network and led by veteran journalist Liza Gross, who now joins the Hub as senior adviser to ensure continuity. Amy Maestas also joins as director after her previous involvement with Solutions Journalism Network.

The funding will support positions needed to launch these collaboratives, including financial backing up to $50,000 along with coaching focused on revenue development and sustainability.

The Hub plans to initiate four new collaboratives annually over the five-year period while focusing on creating sustainable models that can draw local support and investment. It aims to help these collaboratives raise an additional $2.5 million in local contributions over five years.

“The future of local news depends on innovation in both journalism and business models,” said Duc Luu, Director of Journalism at Knight Foundation. “The Center for Cooperative Media has proven that local newsrooms are increasingly willing to work collaboratively to serve their communities instead of competing for the latest scoop. Collaborative journalism can enhance news coverage while making their operations more efficient. This grant will help scale that approach across the country.”

Success metrics for these collaboratives will include not only financial sustainability but also community impact measures. By year two of operation, at least half of these collaboratives are expected to meet established community impact benchmarks.

Since 2017, the Center for Cooperative Media has been an advocate for collaboration within journalism circles through research publications, hosting events like the annual Collaborative Journalism Summit, maintaining resources such as collaborativejournalism.org, managing newsletters about partnerships in journalism, operating a community practice group for collaboration managers in journalism, and tracking over 1,000 collaborations globally.

For those interested in launching or joining a collaborative effort, contact Amy Maestas at maestasa@montclair.edu or Stefanie Murray at murrayst@montclair.edu.

About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is part of Montclair State University's School of Communication and Media and is funded through grants aimed at enhancing local journalism practices within New Jersey and beyond.