The Seattle-based Quixote Foundation is funding a collaboration between Media Consortium members and AAN members to increase the impact of news stories and investigative reports focused on reproductive justice.

Five AAN publications — Austin Chronicle, Jackson Free Press, LEO Weekly, Portland Mercury, and Santa Fe Reporter — are part of this pilot project and will each be paired with another news outlet to jointly report on the issue.

The initiative kicked off last month with an article by Austin Chronicle reporter Jordan Smith, “What Now? What Next?” which explores the ramifications of — and upcoming court battle over — the recent Texas legislation which severely restricts abortion in the state. Smith’s reporting from that story contributed to an audio report for the Public News Service.

In New Mexico, the Santa Fe Reporter partnered with the non-profit radio producer Making Contact to publish a print article by Joey Peters and a companion radio feature on the tactics of local anti-abortion groups. In the web version of Peters’ story, audio from the radio piece is embedded into the text using SoundCloud.

“We see this piece as a great example of the way news organizations can work collaboratively to create excellent content that can change conversations,” said Media Consortium executive director Jo Ellen Kaiser. “In this case, the Santa Fe Reporter‘s local content is nationalized by Making Contact.”

This project is part of a larger initiative between AAN and the Media Consortium to study how independent news organizations can work together to create collective impact, an idea Kaiser has written about in a series of posts for the Journalism Accelerator.