By Susanne Fengler
Liane Rothenberger, Martin Löffelholz and David H. Weaver recently published a weighty volume on cross-border journalism (CBJ) with Palgrave MacMillan – the 38 chapters of the 600-page anthology were contributed by over fifty international authors. The Palgrave Handbook of Cross-Border Journalism sets out to explore the phenomenon of CBJ from a variety of communication science perspectives: theoretical and conceptual as well as historical, economic, technological – and, above all, transnational.
The volume opens the door to a comprehensive debate in communication and journalism studies for a concept closely associated with the name of German-Danish journalist and journalism lecturer Brigitte Alfter. CBJ is familiar to the general public through the collaborative investigative research of international media teams for the Panama Papers or the Paradise Papers.
The volume is divided into six chapters: the first chapter, ‘Conceptualizing and Analyzing Cross-Border Journalism’, looks at models and concepts of CBJ as well as methodological questions. The second chapter is dedicated to the actors and structures of CBJ – and shows, among other things, interfaces with traditional foreign reporting. Brigitte Alfter also contributes an article here. Anthony Fargo provides an insightful article on the interaction between international and national legal contexts within which CBJ teams have to operate.
The third chapter is about the content of CBJ. Mira Rochyadi-Reetz and Dan Teng’o discuss cross-border research projects in reporting on the consequences of climate change and note a comparatively long history of numerous, often foundation-funded projects on this topic, which is fundamental for CBJ. These collaborations build bridges between editorial teams in the Global North and South; however, South-South cooperation is also gaining in importance. Yi Xu discusses CBJ in the context of public diplomacy, particularly the restrictive regimes that CBJ seeks to prevent. In addition to the interests of editorial teams and audiences, the interests of supranational actors in CBJ are also repeatedly addressed.
The contributions in the fourth chapter focus on the ‘balancing act’ between national and international – and not least diasporic (contribution by Hanan Badr) – public spheres. The contributions in the fifth chapter, which shed light on CBJ in journalism cultures that face extreme challenges from a media-economic, professional-ethical or political point of view when it comes to implementing CBJ concepts, are certainly among the most exciting chapters. For example, Kioko Ireri vividly describes the limited applicability of cross-border investigative research in African countries – in various contributions, the anthology critically examines a ‘de-westernisation’ of the CBJ concept. Joseph M. Chan and Rose L. Luqiu discuss CBJ in the context of China’s authoritarian media landscape and provide important insights into the current practice of China’s international reporting.
The sixth chapter is titled ‘The Future of Cross-Border Journalism’; here you will find articles that touch on technological, economic and professional aspects of CBJ. Pamela Nölleke-Przybylski and Britta M. Gossel present an economic model for CBJ. John Pavlik shows the relevance of AI for CBJ projects. Tina Bettels-Schwabbauer, Tabea Grzeszyzk, Nadia Leihs and Altaf Kahn have conducted a comparative study of the curricula of journalism degree programmes and come to the conclusion that, despite their growing importance in media practice, courses on cross-border journalism that are firmly anchored in the curriculum are still the exception rather than the rule, and that CBJ training mainly takes place in foundation- or third-party-funded workshops. This is undoubtedly due to the organisational effort and cost intensity of such seminars, which bring together students across national borders. However, it also highlights the degree of internationalisation of many journalism curricula, where journalism is still geared towards national research and reporting.
The volume is based on an international conference initiated by the authors with DFG funding, ‘Journalism Across Borders. The Production and “Produsage” of News in the Era of Transnationalization, Destabilization and Algorithmization,’ which took place at the TU Ilmenau in 2018. Against this background, a number of contributions that only touch on the topic of CBJ but nevertheless provide very valuable perspectives on the broader topics of transnational journalism/global journalism and foreign reporting should undoubtedly be seen.
What model for CBJ emerges – as a synthesis of the very different international perspectives gathered here? What research deficits remain – what new questions arise in view of the knowledge gathered here from so many international experts? The only ‘blank space’ in this comprehensive and highly readable compendium is the lack of a summary, which could have structured the many topics touched upon in the volume and placed them in a larger communication studies context.
This book review was originally published by the European Journalism Observatory on 19 August 2024.