Complicating the Narratives Discussion Toolkit

This toolkit contains a selection of classroom activities designed to improve student engagement with difficult discussions, based on a Solutions Journalism Network initiative called Complicating the Narratives. This project began in 2018 when SJN commissioned the journalist Amanda Ripley for research, culminating in her essay "Complicating the Narratives." Ripley’s work showed how journalists can learn from the strategies used by conflict mediators to produce more nuanced, inclusive reporting on contentious issues; as she explained, "complicating the narrative means finding and including the details that don’t fit the narrative — on purpose."