The Democracy Landscape

An increasing number of journalists are moving away from traditional horse-race political coverage, which treats elections like a sporting event and tends to be overwhelmingly negative. They recognize that what’s at stake in our elections isn’t just who wins and loses, but also the health of our democracy itself. At the Solutions Journalism Network, we say that journalists have a duty to tell the whole story, which in political reporting means not just covering polls, candidates and where democracy is under attack, but also examining who is responding to challenges and how, and which approaches are showing progress. Not all topics lend themselves to a solutions frame, but here are some key areas where outlets could look for solutions stories.