Diagnostic: Is Your Newsroom Ready for Solutions Journalism?

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Editor Toolkit

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We believe strongly that solutions journalism has a place in every newsroom, and that any reporter can quickly gain the sensibilities and skills to do it. But we’ve also learned that certain enabling factors are critical in cultivating a shift towards solutions journalism. As you embark on your journey, it’s worth reflecting on the questions below to help determine when, where, and how to incorporate solutions journalism into your reporting:

  • Mission: Would the mission of your news organization be better served by focusing a greater proportion of your reporting on responses to social problems?
  • Gaps in current coverage: Are there particular issue areas or beats where solutions journalism is warranted or needed? Is there a gap between coverage and awareness of a problem, and awareness of credible responses to that problem?
  • Support: Do you have broad institutional and editorial support for solutions journalism?
  • Leadership: Is there a leader (maybe it’s you) willing to champion and guide the solutions reporting?
  • Enthusiasm: Do you have reporters with the inclination to do solutions reporting -- for example, those that are enthusiastic and persistent about investigating challenges in the community?
  • Skills: Does your newsroom practice other forms of enterprise journalism? Are reporters capable of doing more than rote news coverage?

TAKE NOTE!

Below are resources from the Solutions Journalism Network.

RESOURCE
Learning Lab

Our “Learning Lab” is the go-to source for tools on the practice of solutions journalism. We offer guidebooks, checklists, and case studies—all for free. We’re developing online curricula to reach professional journalists; we’re also collaborating with graduate schools of journalism to develop course curricula for students.
RESOURCE
Solutions Story Tracker

Solutions Story Tracker is a curated, searchable database of solutions journalism stories—rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. The Solutions Journalism Network created and maintains the database, which features more than 3,000 stories tagged by beat, publication, author, location, and more, a virtual heat map of what's working around the world.
RESOURCE
The Whole Story

The Whole Story is a Medium-based publication featuring ideas and dispatches from the Solutions Journalism Network. You can check it regularly for new case studies, interviews with journalists and editors, groundbreaking research on solutions journalism, and other reports from SJN HQ.