Faith-Based Media
Newsrooms and journalists brought a solutions lens into coverage for people of religious faith in 2022-23.
The idea of solutions reporting tends to resonate with journalists who report for people of religious faith. Faith is, after all, anchored in hope, and in the aspiration for a better world. Solutions journalism anneals that essential optimism with rigorous, evidence-based reporting that acknowledges what’s wrong but also explores how individuals, communities and faith institutions themselves are responding to those challenges. It helps elevate hope to agency.
The Solutions Journalism Network is working to better engage faith-based news organizations and journalists, who often navigate a difficult tension: Their religious readers look to them for defensive coverage — a response to what many see as unfair or one-dimensional representation of their faiths in mainstream media. At the same time, journalists working for religious outlets know that people in power need to be held accountable, and that simple “good news” stories won’t address systemic problems.
