Impact Stories

After the Foundation for Investigative Journalism published a solutions journalism article titled “Soilless Farming to the Rescue. How to Boost Agriculture Without Hurting Forests,” one of the people featured in the story, Adebowale Onafowora, saw a surge in inquiries about hydroponic growing techniques. People seeking more information cited the story as the reason they reached out, according to Abdullah Tijani, who wrote the article.

Nicole Dahmen, a professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, was named the Scripps Howard 2021 Teacher of the Year. This national award recognizes a full-time faculty member teaching in a journalism and mass communication program. Dahmen is one of the leaders of the Catalyst Project, which created the first solutions journalism academy for educators in 2018. She also teaches a stand-alone course in solutions journalism.

Mpindi Abaas, a 2020 Solutions Journalism Network LEDE Fellow and longtime proponent of solutions journalism, launched Solutions Now Africa, a solutions-focused newsroom based in Uganda, run by seven alumni of the Media Challenge Fellowship Program. The newsroom is Africa’s first solutions journalism newsroom, producing stories on innovations, models and systems that are working around the continent. The newsroom also is using solutions stories to challenge negative narratives about Africa.

A solutions story about how Houston moved an unprecedented number of people experiencing homelessness into their own homes was the most-read story of the day in The Times, and is now one of the most read ever. It generated more than 3,000 responses to an associated callout, and also has been shared from The Times’ Instagram account more than any other story. The story is part of The Times’ Headway project, and Headway staff members say that city leaders across the country also responded positively to the coverage.

Bicol Umalohokan (BU), a Facebook-based communication support group for Filipino seed-savers, tailored its social media content strategy for a climate action campaign to SJN's four pillars of solutions reporting. This strategy gained the support of Bulatlat, an alternative online publication in the Philippines, and led to organic engagement. Its collaboration with SJN-accredited trainer Portia Ladrido for a webinar series on solutions journalism piqued interest as well, with one student participant making solutions journalism her undergraduate thesis topic and another SJ trainer proposing BU's approach to a Southeast Asian NGO for a hybrid webinar as one of solutions journalism's digital strategy methods.

A survey taken by members of the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, which is focused on challenges facing caregivers of older adults, identified relationship-building, working together on coverage and content sharing as its biggest benefits. One respondent said that “bringing multiple news outlets together to work on one major project elevates the topic for our audiences and builds collaboration and creativity among reporters and editors.” Another stated that the collaborative “created something out of nothing! Things are happening, alliances have been created and content is being made and shared.”