Is Solutions Journalism the Future of Media News?

quotIn 1971 the first edition ofamp160Handbook of Children and the Mediaamp160by Dorothy and Jerome Singer told the world that heavy viewers of television news are more likely to distrust the next stranger they met In today39s agitprop circus of openly biased 39news39 channels and foulmouthed vicious peoplecancelling social media the distrust creation by media has gone way through the roofquot I wrote that in this column on June 18 2021Invite job candidates to apply live during the Media and Advertising Communityamp8217s Black Talent Outreach Week at MediaVillagecom and AdvancingDiversityorg October 1720 Apply for jobssubmit your resume hereamp160quotPerhaps the energy companies create the Energy Network a fulltime channel devoted to intensive indepth coverage of the energy problem and its solution processquot That was in the July 1979 issue of my Media Science NewsletterFast forward more than 40 years on November 25 2020 I sent President Elect Biden a proposal for a television series We the People Solutions that he would host aimed at the interactive crowdsourcing of solutions for all of the world39s problemsAlong the way I pitched similar concepts on dozens of occasionsImagine my horror when the initial reaction to my ideas in the 20th Century was the worsening of a phenomenon that came to be known as Happy Talk in which TV news journalists wore happy faces and bantered in a friendly way Quite missing the pointImagine my joy to recently discover a nonprofit organization called Solutions Journalism Network consisting of top journalists and actually functioning to train so far thousands of journalists how to inject solutions journalism into their workInspired by Amanda Ripley39s article quotComplicating the Narrativesquot which appeared in June 2018 awardwinning journalists David Bornstein and Tina Rosenberg cofounded the nonprofit and assembled a larger team of exceptional journalists and universitiesThe four hubs are Arizona State University39s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Northwestern University39s Medill School of Journalism Media Integrated Marketing Communications Stony Brook University39s School of Communication and Journalism and the University of Georgia39s Grady College of Journalism and Mass CommunicationIn its first few years of operation this movement has already produced over 13600 news stories by 6000 journalists at 1700 news organizations in more than 187 countries growing every day The aim is that by 2025 the majority of US news consumers and increasing numbers globally will have access to solutions journalismUsing methods of conflict resolution the movement aims to depolarize the conversation restore trust and engage more citizens in taking positive actions toward solving the problems now tearing us apart yet making insufficient progress toward problem solutionsThe objective research shows that it is workingThe University of Texas at Austin39s Center for Media Engagement found that stories with the core components of solutions journalism increased readers39 interest and knowledge boosted readers39 positivity and intent to learn more and led readers to believe there were ways to effectively address the issueThe Institute for Applied Positive Research found that solutionsoriented reporting increased news readers39 problemsolving skills and increased their connection to the community It made people feel less anxious more energized and more confident that they could come up with solutionsSolutions journalism increased viewers39 loyalty to their TV station Solutions journalism stories had greater storytelling appeal helped distinguish stations from their competitors and were more likely to inspire viewers to take action The media research firm SmithGeiger39s conclusions did not differ by age geography or especially notable political ideologySmithGeiger chose six markets in which to conduct its experiment which involved exposing samples of viewers to two television news stories one treated in what we have all gotten used to as the quotnormalquot problemcentric way and the other treated from the standpoint of how people are attempting to solve the problem and the results they are getting The stories were customized to each market although some of the solutions presented were actually being pursued in other markets One of the findings was that there was significant interest in how other people were making some headway by innovative means The main conclusion was that a majority of respondents prefer the solutionoriented approach to news coverage with this pattern strongest among younger viewers the people it has been hardest to get to watch the newsAs we have been backsliding for years now as a nation and as a species with the bad news norm contributing significantly to this decay this group of foresighted journalists and their idea represent the beginning of a second renaissance in world culture led by solutionoriented people with respect for everyone39s constructive ideas Let39s all see what each of us personally can do since we are all in this together and we are all in the media business to amplify the work and success of solutions journalismThere is more material around for solutions journalism than one might suppose given the massive dose of downers we are gorging on in the media of the current period A stellar example is what the founder of Patagonia Yvon Chouinard just did announcing that all the profits of Patagonia will go to saving the world Paul Newman39s and AE Hotchner39s food company Newman39s Own made a similar announcement in 1982 when the company started It has since donated more than 570 million to charitable causes Talk about brand love Who can hate a company that does such thingsAll it takes is for a journalist to look around dig and research as journalists do talk to the people involved to make sure of their sincerity and let the muse do the rest If you39re a journalist you may find that this ups your positive feelings by an order of magnitude Don39t do it for that selfish reason but there is no reason to deny yourself the satisfaction once you start bringing solution thinking and feeling into your workClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Is Solutions Journalism the Future of Media News?

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Bill Harvey

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