Cross-bordering journalism: How intermediaries of change drive the adoption of new practices

Abstract

This article examines the adoption of cross-border collaboration practices by introducing the concept of ‘intermediaries of change’: individual journalists who drive the adoption and gradual normalisation of pioneering cross-border practices. We ask how they implement cross-border practices, integrate them into existing working routines, and how this influences their working conditions using a case study on Europe’s Far Right, a network of seven newspapers that investigated far-right parties ahead of the European Parliament election 2019. We found that the network expanded journalists’ research capacity and entails a ‘domino effect’ since journalists gain experience and establish cross-national ties, which enable them to better establish follow-up collaborations. While this might help to normalize cross-border practices, organisational structures and contexts of transnational journalism shape the degree of participation by different network members. Moreover, we found that cross-border collaborations might foster precarious working conditions and competition.