via Rich Homberg, President/CEO, Detroit Public Television

One of the most important national journalism conferences of the year is coming to Detroit next spring and Detroit Public TV and Wayne State University’s Department of Communication are helping to plan and host it.

It’s the annual Collaborative Journalism Summit organized by Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media, which will be held on May 9-10 on the Wayne State campus and will attract journalists from across the country.

When the Montclair Center decided on Detroit, they reached out to DPTV to co-host it. We looped in Wayne State because of its excellent journalism program, its central location and its eagerness to collaborate.

It was just that spirit of collaboration that brought the Summit to Detroit, as Center for Cooperative Media Director Stefanie Murray said in her note to local journalists below.

Collaboration has never been more important than it is now to provide our community with the impactful, far-reaching journalism it deserves. Despite shrinking newsrooms and often shrinking budgets, there has never been a time when factual, accurate and conscientious coverage has been needed more. Pooling our ideas, our resources and our platforms is a proven way to achieve that.

At Detroit Public TV, we have striven to be at the forefront of collaborative journalism. Last year, we hosted a two-day symposium with the Solutions Journalism Network and its local Solutions Journalism Collaborative. We worked together with TED earlier this year on its 2023 Countdown Summit on climate control. We are a charter member of the Great Lakes News Collaborative. We were a leading force in the Detroit Journalism Cooperative. We have partnered on coverage with The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, BridgeDetroit, Daily Detroit, WDET, Michigan Radio, MLive … I could go on, but you get the idea.

We are similarly engaged as the communications hub for the community. Our reporters are deeply embedded in neighborhoods throughout Metro Detroit, building trust, listening to people and providing the kind of community-based reporting that is rarely seen on television. We’ve been in Brightmoor, Islandview, North Corktown, Fitzgerald, Dearborn, Clawson, Warren, etc.

We have worked with crucial nonprofit and community organizations, like Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD), the CHASS Center, API-Vote Michigan, Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, Detroit Parent Network, The Zekelman Holocaust Center, University of Michigan’s Wallace House Center for Journalists, Marygrove Conservancy, Riverfront Conservancy, to name a few. We also have active monthly meetings with Black Church and AAPI advisory committees.

Throughout the pandemic we were the communications backbone and partner of the COVID313 Coalition, formed by a couple dozen community and government groups bringing essential, often life-preserving information to the people of the city.

We believe the upcoming Collaborative Journalism Summit is another important step in this direction, as journalists share ideas, learn from one another and form new connections and partnerships.

Below is Stefanie’s note to our local journalists asking for their input and participation:

Hi, Metro Detroit friends!

I’m so excited to bring the 2024 Collaborative Journalism Summit to Detroit! The conference is set for May 9-10 at Wayne State University. It typically attracts 200-250 journalists, media execs, funders and academics from around the country who practice — or are interested in — collaboration in journalism. It is sponsored by Knight Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation and a few others we are finalizing details with.

My organization, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, has been working with Detroit Public Television and Wayne State’s Department of Communication to plan the event. But before we get much further in any planning, I wanted to reach out to YOU.

We choose cities for this conference based on the strength and innovation of their news ecosystems and track records of collaboration. We always seek to showcase local work. That’s why I want to invite you to tell me how you want Detroit media to show up at the Collaborative Journalism Summit.

Do you want to propose a keynote session? Pitch a workshop or panel? Work with us to co-host a reception, breakfast, lunch or other event? Would you like to host conference attendees on-site at your organization? Want to do something together before the conference?

We want to partner with you and lift up all the incredible work happening in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs. So before we set anything on the CJS agenda, we want to work with you first to make sure Detroit is showcased front and center.

You can use this form to pitch a session or email me at murrayst@montclair.edu to discuss other ways you want to participate.

We look forward to working with you!

Stefanie