How constructive journalism can help rebuild trust in the media
2020 has been full of gloomy stories, causing many to switch off the news completely. But reporting on solutions as well as problems can help audiences see the full picture and reconnect with our reporting
Posted: 17 December 2020 By: Alisa Anwar
We have all been taught to cover the five Ws (and one H) when writing a story. But very rarely do we think about the seventh important question: what can we do about the problem?
There is growing evidence that constructive journalism helps fight news avoidance, allowing the media to counter the constant stream of negativity and help improve audiences mental health. One session at the Global Media Forum (14 December 2020) looked at how journalists can use this aproach to reconnect with their readers.
Telling the whole story: The constructive journalism challenge
With the media increasingly being accused of a negativity bias, more journalists are turning to constructive journalism. The final GMF digital session of 2020 discussed the possibilities and challenges of this approach.
Too much doom and gloom is causing more of us to switch off the news. But what if the media had a new approach to reporting that inspired people, because it didn’t just identify problems but also explored solutions?
The approach is called constructive journalism, and it’s being taken up by a growing number of media outlets that believe that journalism needs to reinvent itself for the future.