Engagement Resources
WEBINARS
- Resolve Philly’s consulting arm, Modifier, has a webinar on building community relationships to further your solutions journalism. Hear strategies to increase participation in the journalism process and how this approach can surface solutions already happening on the ground and allow you to achieve more trustworthy, accurate, and impactful storytelling and reporting. The Kansas City Beacon offers a case study of how their community engagement bureau works with reporters to source solutions story ideas. Check out Modifier's slide deck, "What's Your Process?" tip sheet, and Sound OFF event planning guide, as well as the slide deck and guide to becoming a listening newsroom from the Kansas City Beacon.
- Prism editor-in-chief Ashton Lattimore and SJN have a webinar about how newsroom leaders and operations/human resources teams can create a pipeline for worker-friendly practices and policies to enter the organization through solutions journalism. Beginning with a case study on how nonprofit newsroom Prism successfully implemented a four-day workweek after being inspired by a solutions story on the approach, the discussion offers insights into how to increase awareness about innovative labor approaches, how to design pilots to test and learn from new workplace initiatives, and how to report on those initiatives to spark change across the media landscape. In addition to her role at Prism, Ashton Lattimore is a former lawyer; her work sits at the intersections of racial justice, journalism, and the law.
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
- The Community of Practice Platform for Engaged Journalism (aka Gather) is a project and platform to support community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals. The collaborative project is led by the Agora Journalism Center, a hub for innovation in communication and civic engagement. Project funders include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund.
- The Listening Post Collective provides journalists, newsroom leaders, and non-profits tools and advice to create meaningful conversations with their communities. Media outlets and community organizations can create news stories that respond to people’s informational needs, reflect their lives, and enable them to make informed decisions.
- “Solutions Set” is a weekly newsletter, published by the Lenfest Institute, that takes in-depth looks at innovations in journalism – many of them focused on engagement mechanisms.
TOOLKITS
- Creating an Engaged Newsroom: A Toolkit (Freepress, November 2016)
- The Listening Post Collective: Playbook (Listening Post Collective, 2017)
- Types of local news events to consider plus 17 practical lessons (Better News, February 2017)
- Reaching new audiences (Better News, November 2017)
- How to Introduce Engagement Efforts to Your Newsroom (Hearken)
- Guide to Audience Revenue and Engagement (Tow Center for Digital Journalism, February 2018)