Transnational Networks in Global Collaborative Journalism: Mapping Opportunities and Challenges in Africa

Drawing on qualitative interviews with investigative journalists from selected African countries and utilising the conceptual position of journalistic collaboration, this chapter seeks to answer two questions: (a) what is the nature of transnational networks and (b) what opportunities does international newsroom collaboration offer for African journalists? We note that international investigative journalism collaborations have consolidated journalists’ networking at a global level, and by making journalism practices less locally bound, collaborative journalism practices help create a global public sphere on which journalists can hold the powerful to account and expose cross-border illicit activities. Furthermore, it has presented journalists with opportunities to expand their horizons of news reporting by drawing vital connections at an international level. International newsroom collaboration provides opportunities for African journalists to build a reputable ‘international capital’ and acquire new skills. In terms of journalism practice, we argue that global collaborative journalism projects add visibility to journalism and provide avenues for sustainable journalism practices that are useful for less-resourced newsrooms. We further argue that by engaging in collaborative journalism practice, media institutions are enhancing the journalistic capital of cross-border journalism, in the process, raising its profile as a practice and the profile of structures that support such practices.