With crises like the covid-19 pandemic, it is often tempting to cover only the negative and tragic stories. However, a relentless stream of negative news will leave your readers feeling depressed and helpless.
Another approach is possible. The managing director of Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu spoke about how solution journalism helped her organisation cover health and the pandemic on a webinar hosted by ICFJ. You can find the main points here.
According to Ihekweazu, the benefits of solution journalism are two-fold. It shines a light on affected communities rather than just the larger problem and holds the government to account by highlighting its responsibility in solving the challenges. She also stresses the importance of "not just to do PR" around the solution but to actively scrutinise it to see whether it works.
"The reason for doing it is to find answers to social problems. That has to be your north star," she says in the article.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- Covering elections: how to not let politicians steal the narrative
- Young people need to see hope in the news cycle
- Solutions journalism superstars: media mentor and trainer, Swati Sanyal Tarafdar
- Solutions journalism superstars: Innocent Eteng, managing editor, Prime Progress
- Solutions journalism superstars: Assunta Corbo, editor-in-chief, News48
