Impact Stories

Climate Solutions (May 2022): The Climate Solutions collaborative (https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/climate-solutions/) in Pennsylvania received a $10,000 grant from America Amplified, which it will use to create advisory groups to help test whether sustained climate change coverage affects individuals’ daily lives. The collaborative, which is part of the Local Media Project (https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/journalists/initiatives/localmediaproject) at the Solutions Journalism Network and focuses on central Pennsylvania, is made up of five news organizations, two educational institutions and a theater company.

The Verge [April 2022]: Sanket Jain’s solutions story on how health care workers in India are using WhatsApp to fight misinformation about public health and COVID-19 is a finalist for international reporting in the Livingston Awards. The Livingston Awards honor the best journalism and storytelling by journalists under the age of 35. The winners will be announced on June 8.

Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NEO SoJo) (April 2022): A professor at Ohio State University said his documentary about water systems and affordability (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzYxEFtYEHI) was influenced by the reporting of the 22-member news collaborative in Northeast Ohio (https://www.neosojo.com/) known as NEO SoJo. Ramiro Berardo, professor of environmental and natural resources policy, said NEO SoJo’s stories about the aid that’s available to help people pay utility bills were especially invaluable (https://www.neosojo.com/blog/neo-sojo-stories-featured-in-water-for-all-documentary). “The issue is not that these programs don’t exist,” he said. “The issue is they do exist but people are not accessing them.”

Bonn Institute [April 2022]: The Bonn Institute, designed to be a hub for making journalism “more solutions-oriented, richer in perspective and increasingly dialogue-based,” was launched in Germany in April 2022, led by Ellen Heinrichs, a solutions journalism supporter who formerly worked at Deutsche Welle. Lisa Urlbauer, a former SJN staff member, is training coordinator.

BBC Media Action (April 2022): BBC Media Action, the BBC’s international development charity, contracted Corinne Podger, a certified solutions journalism trainer, to co-write a new 'Reporting Effectively for Climate Action' online course, which included a module on solutions journalism. Originally created for journalists in East Africa, the course was adapted in 2022 for global distribution in a mobile-first, micro-learning format.

AL.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, The Post and Courier, The Seattle Times [April 2022]: A solutions-focused package produced by six news organizations won second place in the education category in the National Headliner Awards, one of the nation’s oldest and largest journalism contests. The winning entry included a series of stories that explored where and how schools are making progress in boosting students’ reading skills, which suffered during the pandemic. These six news organizations, plus The Fresno Bee, are now working on the fifth package of solutions-focused stories they’ve jointly produced since March 2021.