What Happens When Creativity Meets Solutions Journalism?

What is ‘the news’ in 2024? The days of multiple eyes pointed towards a singular TV broadcast - or leisurely leafing through the oversized pages of a broadsheet - are consigned to history. Instead, ‘the news’ has become shapeless and ethereal, puncturing our peace with push notifications, shouting at us before we have the chance to scroll away, or guilt-shaming us into sharing our friends’ Instagram stories concerning the issue of the day. It can be loud, toxic, urgent, and fleeting. But it’s rarely healthy. 

And the negativity of this modern relationship with the news is starting to strain. A landmark Gallup poll from last year found that only 23% of Americans believed that journalists “act in the best interests of the public”, and around half said they did not trust the information they saw presented in the news. 

Journalists must carry out their jobs under far-from-ideal circumstances. While our collective appetite for content - news or otherwise - has never been greater, news organisations are contending with shifting revenue models and stern competition in the attention economy from the likes of Netflix, video games, and TikTok. Who’d be a journalist in 2024?

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Despite the challenges, plenty of publications new and old have found both audiences and success in recent years. On first glance, there appears to be little that unites these success stories - which range from the ‘traditional’ model of a newspaper like the Dallas Morning News to the disruptive, such as the digital-only food industry publication Civil Eats. But scratch the surface, and there are some fascinating themes shared by platforms that have found their footing in the modern era. 

In the Fall of 2023, I/D.W’s managing principal Alex Ashton attended an event organised by the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN). 

The Solutions Journalism Network is a 10-year old organisation that is leading a global shift in journalism, focused on what the news misses most often: how people are trying to solve problems and what we can learn from their successes or failures.

At the SJN event, Alex joined fellow panellist Bonnie Wan, partner at GS&P and author of The Life Brief, to reflect on how journalism outlets could benefit from a creative approach to building their brands. 

Going Local 

“The first thing to say is that we really spoke about the underlying business models of journalism”, recalls Alex of the SJN-hosted event. “It’s not about training or writing necessarily - but something more fundamental”. 

From the start of their portion of the event, Alex and Bonnie were encouraged to think big about how news organisations should approach the idea of branding. Traditionally, the news as an entity hasn’t prioritised brand and marketing. In many instances, the content markets itself - clips of breaking news stories are instantly shareable and eye-catching by design.

“A lot of the biggest success stories have been fiercely local and proud of it”, comments Alex. “The focus of coverage has ranged from issues as diverse as creating a health service to improving transportation for isolated community members. The unifying theme has been about striking a chord with your readership, identifying an underserved part of your community, and using your editorial strength to push to improve their lives”. 

As well as the utilitarian benefits, there are obvious brand-building elements to this approach, too. In a sense, it’s the idea of ‘purpose’ in its purest form - in this instance, reframing the news less as something that reports on the misery of the wider world and more as a platform through which audiences can improve their own. In an interconnected era, that’s a position that could prove healthy for any news brand. 

What’s the Value? 

Amongst people who claim to have tuned out of the media, a lack of perceived value has been an often-sighted factor. According to a 2022 report from Reuters, survey respondents described the industry as “repetitive and dispiriting, often of dubious credibility, and it leaves people feeling powerless”. 

Perhaps that’s inevitable in the context of a 24-hour demand for content, followed by 24-hour reaction to that content. A local-first approach can help publications bridge that credibility gap, offering clear value and evidence of how the news really can do more good than harm. And on the other side of that equation - where publications are under pressure to consistently produce content of a high standard of quality befitting their brand - there is space for fresh ideas, too. 

“Original investigations and reporting are incredibly costly and difficult to produce, even if it is what audiences consistently tell us they really want from news outlets”, observes Alex. “So it’s vital to find the opportunities to make your original content work as hard for you as possible. How can your stories go further? That might be a podcast or other media platform that lives as an offshoot to your traditional offering, a roundup article for the end of the year, or a deeper dive for subscribers only. What’s important is that you find ways of improving the longevity of your original content”. 

“Don’t Be The Best, Be The Only” 

Another theme to emerge from the SJN event was the idea of more niche publications which are able to offer unparalleled expertise in one given topic area. By way of example, the aforementioned Civil Eats has carved out a place for itself as a go-to subscriber-based information source in the food industry. As a result, its readers may be more likely to turn to the platform ahead of Google when they have a question related to the food industry. 

“There is a parallel with the idea of going local-first”, posits Alex. “It’s the way that you’re becoming the immediate choice for a group of people engaged with the topic you’re reporting on. That’s a position which naturally fosters connections based on trust and, ultimately, a healthier relationship with the news than many of us might be able to relate to right now”. 

Becoming a niche, solutions-interested publication with hunger for new distribution channels and technologies - rather than endlessly chasing and throwing away new headlines - feels like a strong, healthy place to be as a publication in 2024. Perhaps that’s why brand-love, and not clicks, is going to save the future of journalism.