Hostwriter Network

About the network

Hostwriter is a global network designed to connect journalists from all over the world to facilitate cross-border collaboration, local advice, and peer support. Founded in 2013 and operating in Germany, Hostwriter powers the collaborative future of journalism by breaking down traditional geographic and structural boundaries. The network has grown exponentially into a community encompassing thousands of members (over 7,900 journalists) spanning more than 160 countries. Membership is free of charge, though all applicants undergo an internal professional verification process—providing work samples—to ensure quality, safety, and trust across the platform.

Hostwriter is built on the core philosophy that stories cross borders, and journalists should too. It supports media professionals at all career levels—freelancers, staff journalists, and media outlets alike—to raise the quality of public-interest media coverage by providing direct access to local contacts around the globe.

The network’s activities and offerings are built around several core pillars:

• Global Connection & Collaboration: Providing a platform (including the HostWIRE community forum) where journalists can seek and offer help, find reporting partners for cross-border projects, collaborate on grant applications, and coordinate investigations.
• Practical Field Support: Beyond digital collaboration, Hostwriter uniquely addresses the logistical hurdles of reporting by allowing members to offer local advice and, in many cases, accommodation (such as a couch) to visiting colleagues during reporting trips or journalism conferences.
• Training & Capacity Building: Conducting workshops, educational programs, and publishing instructional material—such as the free downloadable booklets Cross-border Journalism as a Mindset and Cross-border Journalism as a Method—to train the next generation of global reporters.
• Unbias the News: Hosting a feminist, cross-border newsroom and project stream that creates a dedicated space for journalists who encounter structural barriers in the industry, producing award-winning collaborative journalism.

The network’s members cover a comprehensive array of vital, global public-interest subjects:

• Climate & Environment: Investigating climate crises and local resilience strategies (such as The Sinking Cities Project).
• Corruption & Organized Crime: Tracking illicit networks and financial malfeasance across regions.
• Democracy & Politics: Covering shifts in governance, civic space, and political accountability.
• Health & Social Issues: Reporting on public health infrastructure and societal inequalities.
• Human Rights & Migration: Examining border policies, minority experiences, and marginalized perspectives.

Network Projects

• Unbias the News: Originally launched in 2019 as an illustrated anthology addressing diversity in the media, it evolved into a fully fledged cross-border newsroom. It produces celebrated investigative projects—such as The Sinking Cities Project, which explored how coastal cities worldwide prepare for sea-level rise—and has received multiple prestigious award nominations (including the One World Media Awards).
• Display Europe: Hostwriter is part of the original cohort of organizations behind the Display Europe platform, a central portal uniting independent creators to shape a networked, independent European media model across 15 languages.
• Agora Global: A project series providing emergency grants and structural support for cross-border teams (such as collaborations with change-makers from Armenia and across Europe).

Contact
Website: https://www.hostwriter.org

Contact

Website: https://www.hostwriter.org
Name: Mercy Abang
Email: mercy@hostwriter.org