For our September 2024 SJD Research Feature, we're going deeper into a recent "online first" JMC Educator article, "Beyond the Classroom: Evaluating Solutions Journalism Education from the Perspective of University Graduates." Team member and doctoral student Kate Roff (Adelaide) answered questions about her work with Kyser Lough (Georgia) and Karen McIntyre (Oregon) on what impact learning about the method of solutions journalism had down the road on new journalism professionals. In the article, the authors find that solutions journalism education resonated powerfully with students and that wider incorporation of the practice could help re-engage students who have grown either burned out or disenchanted with journalism. However, implementing solutions journalism practices in industry practice remaining challenging given time and resource restrictions.
What inspired this research project?
Karen and Kyser are leaders in the solutions journalism research field and had noticed some glaring gaps in the literature concerning the education side of the emerging approach to reporting. We all teach solutions journalism university courses and after I reached out about potential doctoral projects, we saw a great chance to work together. Despite working remotely across states and — even at times — continents, it's been a dream research team.
In your view, what's the greatest insight to come out of your study?
We found more than we bargained for, but one key finding was that solutions journalism education has a much deeper impact than can be measured simply in the story output in the newsrooms where graduates find employment. Despite significant barriers to producing solutions stories, participants in this study still believe their education in solutions journalism affects their career and they are still implementing the approach in some form. They assert that solutions journalism boosted their résumés, increased intentionality in their reporting, honed their interview skills and applied a reflexive lens to their work.
For those of us not familiar with solutions journalism, could you briefly explain the framework and share some examples?
Solutions journalism can be understood as a constructive journalism style that goes beyond reporting on problems, and focuses on rigorously reporting on responses to problems. The Solutions Journalism Network has narrowed the definition to include four ‘pillars’ of a SoJo story:
- A focus on a response to a problem (while still reporting on the problem)
- Insights into how the response was engaged
- Evidence of the responses’ impact (or lack of impact, because that's news too)
- Limitations to the response (critical reporting on when and where it doesn’t work)
Some of our students' favorite examples include this story about a Shakespeare in Prison program in Detroit, or this BBC one about solar power keeping Lebanon’s lights on. Climate solutions are an area where this approach proves very popular, like in this story about backyard farmers who grow food with fog.
One of the findings in the study is that encountering the solutions journalism approach helped possibly divert some students' burnout with journalism. What do you think was causing that burnout and how did learning this approach help counter that trend?
This was a really important finding for us as J-school educators, and we discovered that solutions journalism education came—for several participants—at a time in their student life when they were already experiencing reservations about joining the industry, for many of the same reasons journalism has been reported as 'ground zero for a vocation crisis'. Solutions journalism seems to align with students' worldviews, and our study supports Kathryn Thier's suggestion that the approach may have a key role to play in university trends to introduce courses connected to social change and community engagement. We observed a pathway to increase recruitment and retention because solutions journalism connects with students, and reflects what they want for their own media consumption and for their future in the profession.
What are you all planning to do next related to scholastic journalism?
Kate Roff: I've relocated to the University of Adelaide, Australia, where I am working on my Ph.D., examining how solutions journalism engages with marginalized sources. I highly encourage visitors, and welcome alerts about any related studies.
Karen McIntyre: I've relocated and am starting a faculty position at the University of Oregon this fall. I will continue my research in solutions journalism, and in particular am planning a couple experiments to test whether solutions stories are more effective under certain conditions, like when practiced in combination with specific journalistic role functions (ie. watchdog stories) or when published alongside images showing the response actively being carried out—the latter a collaboration spearheaded by Kyser.
Kyser Lough: I was recently tenured and promoted to associate professor of journalism at the University of Georgia and am continuing as research lead for the Solutions Journalism Hub for the South at UGA. Along with the aforementioned study with Karen, I'm exploring how sources feel about being interviewed for solutions journalism stories and continuing my photojournalism research.