We gave our competitors our HIV sources. Here’s why

Journalists compete for stories, audiences and money.

So why did Bhekisisa share its expertise and sources of the HIV prevention injection, lenacapavir (LEN), with 10 of its competitors? Good health reporting takes more than a press release.

Journalists need time with scientists, health workers, data — and the people actually using the health system.

We may have helped another newsroom beat us to our next LEN story.

That’s okay: better-informed competition ultimately means better journalism for everyone.

What happens when health journalists stop competing? In today’s newsletter , Mia Malan tells us why sharing sources makes health journalism stronger, not weaker.

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COMMENT Journalists compete.

We compete to break stories first.

We fight for audiences and for the same shrinking pots of money, whether from advertisers, subscribers or donors.

And, however collegial we may be as individuals, another publication getting a great story we wish we’d found first still stings.

For two days last week, we tried something different.

Bhekisisa brought 10 specialist health journalists and editors together in Cape Town to deepen their understanding of lenacapavir (LEN), the six-monthly HIV prevention injection that South Africa began rolling out through state clinics in June .

They came from publications that ordinarily compete with each other — and with us.