These links – which were captured in class – will be useful for you as you write your reflections; and if you want to explore more deeply any of the ideas and case studies mention in David’s talk.
Key Points captured by Derek
“The way in which the world is imagined determines at any particular moment what men will do.”
— Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion
What solutions journalism is not
- Hero worship
- g. CNN Heroes
- Silver bullet
- Favor for a friend (press release for nonprofit)
- Think tank (advocacy)
- An afterthought — as if the solution is much less important than discussion of problem
- Heartwarming, feature pieces (good for clickbait)
Solutions journalism:
- Puts problem-solving at narrative center
- gets into details of implementation
- presents evidence to support any claim
- focus on responses not “do-gooders”
- includes limitations on solutions
- “When people have low efficacy, anxiety-inducing messages lead to defensiveness, fear, helplessness and a desire to tune out.”
- Toxic Neglect: Cleveland’s lead poisoning legacy — The Plain Dealer
- “A problem that had been seen as unavoidable comes to be seen as unacceptable.”
- The Poverty Puzzle — Times Free Press
Career advice:
- Persistence — “Unless you’ve written someone five or six times, they may not write back”
- Become an expert
- Find a beat and cover it deeply
- Carve out your own niche
- What is the thing that you really care about?
Key Case Studies captured by August
- Bangladesh bank book: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Dream-Story-Grameen-Bank/dp/0226066444
- Ebola on Bloomberg Businessweek: https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/ebola > To see how the cover was made: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-25/businessweeks-ebola-cover-how-we-made-it
- NY Times: Teaching kids how to deal with anxiety in the class room. Super popular and got a lot of responses online: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/first-learn-how-to-calm-down/
- Reuters study on avoiding the news: http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2017/news-avoidance-2017/
- Solutions Journalism Storytracker: https://storytracker.solutionsjournalism.org
- Lead Paint in Cleveland: Toxic Neglect series: http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2017/10/cleveland_lead_poisoning_2_yea.html
- Seattle Times: Racial suspensions and Education Lab: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/race-dramatically-skews-discipline-even-in-elementary-school/ and https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/you-are-more-than-your-mistakes-teachers-get-at-roots-of-bad-behavior/
- The Poverty Puzzle: http://projects.timesfreepress.com/2016/03/povertypuzzle/index.html
- Healing Hope and the infant mortality rate: http://www.richlandsource.com/healing_hope/