#solutionjournalism

[maureentrattner-blog]

David Bornstein on Solution Journalism

Author and journalist David Bornstein came to campus last Tuesday to share the power of solutions journalism with the Marquette community.   David is the author of “How to Change the World”, and through his speech, gave insight into doing just that.

Journalism has done a good job of reporting on the bad news, but David highlights that if you spend all your time killing germs, you won’t be able to spot an antibody when it bumps you in the face. By using solutions journalism, it inspires a solution to be found, helping people feel powerful, instead of incompetent with the world’s problems.

Bornstein also applied journalism to behavioral science, showing that negative information causes people to feel depressed, where as showing possible solution information causes people to lean into the information and act on the problems.

Good solution stories tend to go viral, showing that this is what readers want to share with their network. David brought up strong points in showing the change that solutions journalism can make, and referred the audience to propublica.org in order to gain more insight.

[blairhickman-blog]

Q. What do you think are the stories the media have not covered that you would like to see more of? A. This is an urgent time to find ways to reduce health care costs without harming people at all – and it’s clearly possible. There are improvements in care that I am absolutely certain, not from my administration experience, but from my 30 years before, reduce expenses and improve care. I have not seen that grappled with in the way that it really needs to in the media. It’s a social necessity but it’s an important intellectual endeavor. Shannon Brownlee [at New America Foundation] has done a very good job. I don’t think the media has gotten into the more-is-better myth enough.

A doctor unwittingly suggests Solutions Journalism, in the Association of Health Care Journalists. This article by Atul Gawande is, I think, an example of what he's talking about.