Essay Example on Solutions Journalism: A Response to Conventional Reporting

Solutions journalism involves meticulous news reporting ways that allow individuals to respond to social-related issues, including homelessness, suicide, poverty, drug addiction, unemployment, racism, wage stagnation, as well as climate change (Lough, K. and McIntyre, K., 2018, 2). As such, this form of journalism gives an insight into the methods that individuals apply in addressing conflicts. Besides, this type of reporting offers a reaction to conventional journalism as it mostly emphasizes on conflict targeted frames. Similarly, the advent of solution journalism has not only stressed on reporting the wrong but also scrutinizing how residents respond to making things okay and right. In the broad sense, solutions journalism examines and explains in a clear-eyed and critical way, how people remain focused towards achieving solutions. Thus, solution-based journalism stresses what might be working, causes, and how it appears to be functioning. As such, by just applying the available evidence, this form delves into the methods of solving problems. In retrospect, solutions journalism has diverse advantages, such as broadening the scope of journalism and bringing out a comprehensive picture of the globe

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Similarly, solution journalism involves reporting on responses that are partially working, working, entirely not working, and presents valuable insights. Also, solution related stories engage individuals differently. Such solution-based stories can alter public discourse and shape public opinion, thereby making it more constructive and less divisive. In exposing the solutions that have worked, this reporting form results in a meaningful change.

Historically, solutions journalism culminates from ancient techniques of journalism that attempted to integrate the participatory approaches into the recent conventional information reporting approach. The most prominent first methods include public journalism and peace journalism. Thus, peace journalism, which is traced back from the 1960s to the 1970s, encourages journalists to reach out to the public as it looks for the non-violent conflict solutions (Wenzel, A., Gerson, D., and Moreno, E., 2016, 7). The peace journalism also urges reporters to scrutinize the conflict causes as it reports on methods of addressing conflicts. However, traditionalists have criticized peace journalism for its practical application deficiency and drifting into advocacy.

During the 1990s, the public journalism, also called the citizen journalism, encouraged reporters to take up the responsibility of informing the public and involving them on issues of general significance (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 7). In coordination with Jay Rosen, who is the pioneer of citizen journalism movement, the movement outlines the functions of public journalism as follows: regard residents as citizens and potential public affairs participants instead of being spectators or victims. Secondly, public journalism should assist the political society to work on, rather than merely learn about issues. Collectively, the advent of solutions journalism has a crucial improvement in the traditional model of reporting as far as news reporting is concerned.

Therefore, some reporters have tried to resolve the detrimental impacts of news by introducing the solutions journalism style of reporting. This approach of reporting gets characterized by being more productive in offering partial solutions to the increasingly cynical and frustrated public due to the traditional conflict-based mainstream of reporting news. Hence, solutions journalism has advanced to involve both negative and positive parts of stories by highlighting the problem and offering solutions in addressing the issue. As such, readers are found to feel more optimistic and inspired by reading or viewing solution-oriented news (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 7). Thus, the positively designed story is found to boost the positive impact as well as decreasing the negative one for the readers. Also, the most robust solutions journalism news apply the firmness of investigative reporting to examine systemic, critical efforts, and the underlying causes and solutions to social ills. As such, this type of reporting rarely concentrates on the issue but the afterthought of achieving the solution.

Initially, a more significant part of editors, reporters, and publishers asserted that the central role of journalism involved the revelation of wrongdoing (Krueger, V., 2020,1). This contention was getting support from the public, who believed the same as well. However, recently with the numerous changes in journalism that resulted in a legitimate reporting called solutions journalism, the field of journalism became a feedback-oriented mechanism to assist the community to self-correct. Behavioral science outlines that information relating to problems alone remains inadequate to offer corrective action. Thus, people need to acknowledge things they can do effectively and the way such things can be achieved. As such, solutions journalism allows reporting to include some good news besides presenting people with realistic pathways, innovative ideas as well as other possibilities that remain within the people's view frame. For effectiveness, the solutions journalism needs to be intertwined with traditional journalism to round out the developing stories.

Also, the public's general view of the way one imagines about the world determines what people will undertake. As such, solutions journalism media has been dramatically involved in identifying ways in which the public visualize reality (Krueger, V., 2020,1). Thus, the media personnel is mandated to shape their perceptions in selecting stories to highlight and those they should overlook. Hence, journalists are always called upon to play their primary watchdog function, which includes uncovering issues related to corruption, trust betrayals, and malfeasance.

The solutions compelling journalism function of offering coverage and response to social-related issues strengthened the watchdog covering and reporting. One of the solutions journalism strengths includes the provision of context. Traditional journalism remained ineffective since it did not focus on responding to and covering social problems while also providing a biased vision of reality and inaccurate information (Lough, K. and McIntyre, K., 2018, 3). Equally, if reporters highlighted on social issues, they failed to offer mitigative responses. Still, they regularly conveyed a false sense indicating that the public was adamant about trying to fix problems, or they lacked knowledge of doing things in a better way. However, with the advent of solutions-oriented journalism, it has solved the past journalism issues by offering an adequately accurate view of the society and globe in general.

Additionally, with solutions journalism, the readers' or viewers' engagement in news reporting increased dramatically. According to Krueger, V.( 2020, 1), the tendency of sharing solution stories on social media has grown more as compared to the era of traditional news. As such, a more positive way of reporting makes the news outstanding in the media industry that is used to report social problems in a way that illicit shock to the viewer or reader. This effect has been enhanced by the solutions journalism's ability to make readers feel more powerful, hence unlikely for one to tune out as the story remains less cynical or apathetic regarding the problem. Equally, solution-based journalism has had a significant impact on the media by advancing the discourse of the public. People and society at large require models for change. As such, solution-based journalism has responded equitably through its more constructive approaches to developing stories (Krueger, V., 2020, 2).

Additionally, solutions journalism has become a potential income generator since it provides a solution to the frustrating adverse reporting. This advancement has sparked a hunger for creativity and real innovation in reporting. As a result, the readers have been motivated to pay for stories that assist them to acknowledge the way the world operates (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 8). The efficient framing of solutions-based journalism is thus anticipated to encourage and increase massive engagement from the audience. Hence, the central focus solutions journalism is to change the public from being informed to being engaged in participating in stories. Thus, this approach will enable the public to believe and self-correct by recognizing that the problem alone cannot produce the corrective action (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 8). Hence, policymakers and stakeholders need to be aware of what they are required to do and the method of doing things. In installing this mechanism, the public will be shifted to solutions journalism as traditional journalism gets abolished.

However, recently, there has been a collective mentality among people that a more significant part of the news is still negative-oriented. Even though other researchers established several positive elements in the negative reportings, on balance, the overall effects indicate more consequences than benefits (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 6). Hence, adverse reporting was found to be the primary contributor to the diminished aspiration to follow news or news fatigue. Although covering negative news has been a non-ending challenge in the media industry, it is the core job of the reporter to cover such news because it is unavoidable in the long run (Lough, K. and McIntyre, K., 2018, 4). The other effect of covering negative news involves reducing the readers' ability to recall what they read upon encountering adverse reports.

Recently, many news reporting firms have been challenged to create a balance in reposting positive and negative news by involving periodic feel-good stories that include heroic profiles or individuals who make differences in the community. However, this approach exposed the implicit discrimination held by numerous reporters in believing that news focusing on solutions to social issues are of secondary significance to society (Lough, K. and McIntyre, K., 2018, 4). As such, solutions journalism has provided a serious-minded model of mitigating the balancing effect by offering the public with an entry point that will convene them to engage in severe problems more deeply. In a research conducted by Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S. (2016, 7), it was found that many people have started to avoid news reportings due to the perceived decrease in the quality of reporting and superficial approach on issues. The research required the participants to offer their view on comparing if it is the quantity or quality of the story had decreased. As a result, over 60 percent of the respondents declared that the quality of news has drastically reduced (Curry, A., Stroud, N.J. and McGregor, S., 2016, 7). Therefore, in solving the issue, solutions journalism was identified to assist in reversing the declining trend. As such, solutions-oriented journalism will offer the public a more comprehensive view of the reporting, including reporting on issues and providing solutions to such problems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the advent of solutions-based journalism has brought essential ramifications for news firms and readers alike, besides increasing the potential to impact the community broadly. Contrary to readers of non-solution traditional news, readers of solutions journalism have indicated both the feeling of being more informed and the inspiration to learn and work towards achieving solutions. Equally, the news organizations have benefited from increased news sh...