Not long ago, José Ignacio Castañeda, a reporter at Spotlight Delaware, told INN about how he hosts casual coffee chats in local parks, hands out soccer balls and listens — really listens — to the people he’s trying to serve. No press badges. No formal surveys. Just a thermos, a few folding chairs and the simple question: “Where do you get your news — and where do you wish you could?”
That spirit — meeting people where they are, not where we assume they’ll be — is foundational to the mission of nonprofit news. This commitment to deep community engagement has evolved into a new wave of editorial collaboration –– the shared reporter model –– that goes beyond saving money to unlock deeper beats, smarter coverage and trust that lasts.
Whether it’s Spotlight Delaware building bilingual video digests with local grassroots outlets, or Conecta Arizona collaborating with news partners in rural areas to reach those “in the shadows even though they’re legally here,” collaboration is not a feel-good bonus, rather, it’s the blueprint.
And it’s not just beat-driven or startup newsrooms leading the way. Legacy and nonprofit outlets are teaming up, too.
In Maine, the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor recently announced a new editorial partnership aimed at deepening statewide coverage through content sharing, joint investigations and coordinated public service journalism. For two organizations with distinct missions and business models, this collaboration shows that trust and a shared commitment to serving readers can go a long way.
Shared reporter partnerships like ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, Grist’s Local News Initiative, the Mississippi River Ag & Water Desk and the New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship show how powerful these collaborations can be. These models provide community reporters with funding, editing, mentoring and national reach, but also build local on-the-ground expertise that produces deeply relevant stories. By training and supporting skilled journalists in local newsrooms, they strengthen beats like climate, agriculture and accountability while helping reporters sharpen investigative skills they can take back to their communities.
The result is stronger coverage, professional development for reporters and cost-sharing that makes ambitious reporting possible for small or rural outlets. These collaborations prove that when newsrooms pool expertise and resources, they can deliver trusted reporting that holds power to account, reflects lived local experience and lifts entire regions.
A model made for the moment
Colleen Murphy, the managing editor who oversees Open Campus’ Local Network, put it plainly: “Most Americans go to college within 50 miles of home. Most local newsrooms don’t have a single reporter covering higher ed.” That gap is both an accountability risk and a missed opportunity. Open Campus, through its shared reporter model, has been a trailblazer in tackling that challenge one partnership at a time.
What began in 2020 with two reporters has grown steadily to include 20 reporters at 17 partner newsrooms, including Mississippi Today, The Texas Tribune and Wisconsin Watch. The reporters are employees of their newsrooms and receive coaching and support from Open Campus’s team of subject-matter expert editors.
“The dynamics we’ve seen across partners is a growing awareness that a rising tide really does lift all boats,” she said. “We can’t just be out competing for the same little morsel.”
Open Campus offers deep topic expertise, while its partners bring local trust and community presence.
The key? Respecting each other’s lanes. “We’ve had to learn when to step back and let the local newsroom lead,” Murphy said. “It’s their audience. We’re here to amplify and support because we are genuinely coming to help and add capacity to these newsrooms.”
Journalism that starts with a coffee chat
While Open Campus started with a strategic plan, Spotlight Delaware’s model evolved from something more organic. When José Ignacio Castañeda joined the team, he changed the newsroom’s trajectory.
As a Spanish-speaking reporter, he helped launch Spotlight Delaware en Español from day one. “Why not build something bilingual from the start?” he said. “Instead of adding it on later?”
They didn’t just assume what their audience wanted — they asked: In parks, at soccer tournaments, outside the Guatemalan mobile consulate. Castañeda showed up in communities across the state, took notes and adjusted based on what he heard. That kind of listening turned into action, which turned into relationships, which now power a growing audience and network of community allies.
The team didn’t just translate stories. They asked communities how they wanted their news. The answer wasn’t longform articles. It was short, clear video recaps delivering weekly headlines in both English and Spanish that can be shared via Facebook, WhatsApp, even grocery store TVs. This included the new social video series, ‘¡Tell your Tia!’, specifically aimed at a younger, bilingual audience who may have family members who only speak Spanish and want to be informed about local news.
Spotlight Delaware now runs monthly editorial meetings with other state outlets and grassroots publications, sharing not just content but context. The model isn’t just collaborative — it’s deeply relational. The spirit of partnership took a major step forward when El Tiempo Hispano, the state’s only Spanish-language newspaper, became its first Spanish-language editorial partner.
Together, they’re exploring ways to share reporting power and community knowledge, so that coverage is more accessible, relevant, and trusted. In this way, the collaboration functions like a shared reporter model: not just pooling stories but expanding the very capacity to cover communities often overlooked.
“We knew we couldn’t just drop in. Everyone kind of has their own audience, their own kind of community, their own purview of Delaware. So we started having coordinated conversations.” Castañeda recalled. “That’s how we earned buy-in.”
From ‘nice to have’ to ‘need to have’
What unites all of these efforts is a shared belief: We don’t need to do more with less, we need to do more together.
In an era of burnout, budget crunches and ever-widening news deserts, collaboration isn’t just practical, it’s essential. It allows smaller newsrooms to stretch their reach, deepen their coverage and actually reflect the communities they serve.
And perhaps most importantly, it changes who feels seen.
The legwork isn’t small. But the payoff is big. And maybe just as importantly, it’s more joyful.
“I hope people are finding that it’s a lot more fun to work together,” Murphy said. “Especially when everything feels existential and hard.”
So if you’re a newsroom leader wondering how to deepen a beat, stretch a budget or build something bigger than your bylines: Don’t start from scratch. Start by sharing.
