Solicit Story Ideas
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I. Introduction (15m)
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II. Storytelling (40m)
- Introduction
- Opoids in prison: How one state's success could work in Maine
- Wickenburg district using 4-day week to woo, keep teachers
- School suicide screening program in Ohio leading to fewer deaths
- Police business checks lead to drop in crime
- Land Bank discussing its impact on Cleveland over the last 10 years
- More restaurants seeking to appeal to your eardrums as much as your taste buds
- Plan G: How Georgians are taking control of the climate conversation
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III. Engagement (25m)
- Introduction
- Involve the Community
- Build Interest
- Solicit Story Ideas
- Use Social Media
Kansas City’s KSHB routinely solicits ideas for its solutions journalism project, SafeKC, from the audience online and on air. There is a Google form on the landing page and in the sidebar of every digital SafeKC story for readers to submit story ideas; on air, stories are tagged out with a request for suggestions and a dedicated email address, safekc@kshb.com, to send them to. A year into the project, KSHB launched a Safe KC Facebook group with the intention of sparking more interaction.
The station has done several roundtables with community leaders and law enforcement officers focused on safety and crime prevention, some of which have produced story ideas. Video of the conversations is typically streamed on digital and edited down for air. KSHB also does “pop-up newsroom” events at local libraries, where anchors and reporters listen for story ideas.