• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 13, 2017

Is the future of journalism joint hires and shared staff?

Well, maybe not for most publishers, which still like to keep their newsrooms separate. But the collaborative trend took a big leap forward this week with the news that The New York Times Magazine and ProPublica are joining forces to hire veteran criminal justice journalist Pamela Colloff, who will work for both newsrooms.

This represents an unusual new arrangement for both organizations.

Colloff has reported on criminal justice issues for over two decades, and previously worked as an executive editor for Texas Monthly, where she penned a piece in 2010 that ultimately led to the exoneration and release of Anthony Graves, who’d been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for a murder that took place in 1992.

In 2013, Colloff won a National Magazine Award for feature writing.

In her new dual appointment, effective May 1, Colloff will join ProPublica as a senior reporter, while serving as a writer-at-large for the NYT Magazine. Colloff’s reporting will appear exclusively in the NYT Magazine and on the ProPublic Web site.

The novel joint hire arrangement for Colloff comes amid growing interest in criminal-justice reform, including a number of initiatives that enjoy broad bipartisan support at the federal and state levels, such as reduced sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

Many experts fear these initiatives, which appeared to be gaining momentum over the last few years, may be reversed under the Trump administration.

Founded in 2007 by Paul Steiger, a former managing editor at The Wall Street Journal, ProPublica publishes independent journalism on local, national and international topics, with a particular focus on public policy, government, and big business.

ProPublica's reporting has won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 award for explanatory reporting for its account of the hunt for a serial rapist.

Earlier this month, the Craig Newmark Foundation, the charitable organization created by the eponymous founder of Craigslist, announced a $1 million grant to ProPublica, intended, among other issues, to help counter the spread of “fake news” on social media.