Solutions journalism course: How to get buy-in from your newsroom and make changes stick

Editor’s note: Journalists often get bogged down in reporting on problems. But growing evidence shows that readers want coverage of solutions. We’re republishing the sixth instalment from The Fix’s course on solutions journalism by Emma Löfgren (a version of this piece was previously published as a standalone article by The Fix). Subscribe to access the full course for free in seven weekly instalments delivered to your email inbox.

The best things about journalists are that we’re independent, stubborn and have little respect for authorities. But sometimes, just sometimes, these can feel like the worst thing about journalists.

Inside the newsroom, it means that we’re notoriously hard to manage, sceptics by nature. So regardless of whether you’re an editor trying to elicit some enthusiasm from your weary direct reports, a reporter managing upwards to make your editors see the point of solutions journalism, or a middle manager fighting all fronts at once, you need an action plan to carry it through.

You can come up with all the grand new visions about solutions journalism you want, but unless there is support – or acceptance – from those who need to execute them, old habits die hard.

Nine tactics for making changes stick in the newsroom

1. Win over their hearts and minds

This is why we’ve spent so much time going through the four pillars of solutions journalism in this newsletter course. For the newsroom to get onboard with your strategy, they need to fully understand why solutions journalism is good for their work and the newsroom and be energised to make it happen. You need to win people over so that they make it happen even without you.

Go through the previous editions again and think about how to make them sing for your newsroom.

2. Listen

Do your employees, colleagues or bosses feel that solutions journalism is needed? Why? Why not? What needs to change for them to be able to engage with it and how can it be moulded to help the organisation reach its business goals? 

People have different motivators. Listen to what they are, and then you can adapt your messaging to fit your particular audience. “It’s fun and fulfilling” might work for a reporter, but probably won’t win over a results-driven manager.

3. Have a long-term plan

Trying your hand at solutions journalism might be fun, at first. But to turn the experimentation stage into practice, you need to think in the long term about what is actually viable. If you go in too light, it’s unlikely to spark lasting change. But if you go in too strong if your newsroom isn’t actually equipped to handle it, it’ll be overwhelmed and any plans will fall by the wayside.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate

The language you use to talk about solutions journalism will determine how people perceive it. If you’re not consistent, you leave room for multiple interpretations which may make it hard to keep everyone on the same track. Be clear about the whats, whens, whos, hows and whys.

5. Or… don’t communicate

If you see the need for change but you’re not in a position to make it happen immediately (perhaps you’re a reporter hoping to influence your peers and managers): proceed until apprehended. Ask yourself what you can do within your own sphere of power, and do that.

You can start by including ingredients of solutions journalism in your own reporting, or pitch it as a fresh angle that hasn’t been covered before, without mentioning the word “solution”. Keep tabs on how well your articles are performing and gather evidence – then make a bigger pitch.

6. Let your allies lead the way

Early adopters are your best assets. Identify who in your newsroom are the most enthusiastic about the change, and invest effort into building a coalition of the willing, rather than hitting your head against the wall to convince the sceptics. Remember to provide a safety net for your early adopters if the strategies fail – don’t blame them, and remember that failures are educational.

7. Don’t ignore the sceptics

Trying too hard to turn everyone into fervent advocates of solutions journalism may have the opposite effect and make sceptics dig their heels in even further. 

But don’t ignore them completely, either. Dissatisfaction left to fester can easily spread, so show sceptics you’re taking their concerns seriously.

8. Be generous with time

One common and not unjustifiable reason for dissatisfaction is time, or lack thereof. 

Many sceptics fear that their workload is already too heavy – “we barely have enough time to cover the news and write about problems, and now we’re supposed to do in-depth reporting about solutions, too?”

Make sure your change is actually a change – something old being replaced by something new, not another task on top of everything else. Free up time to help your colleagues learn about solutions journalism and accept that the production process is going to take longer at first.

9. Without glue, nothing sticks

Many changes peak at launch, then peter out until they’re replaced by the next shiny thing. Who can blame the sceptics for assuming your solutions craze is going to suffer the same fate?

New strategies need nurturing to be able to survive. Pay attention to the process, remind reporters to produce solutions journalism, and give them time to do so. 

If people do produce solutions stories, make sure you recognise their efforts. Let them practise and learn, evaluate their stories’ performances to highlight successes, and show them that their work is paying off.

Your solutions challenge

In the last edition we worked on an inventory of your reporting. This time we’re going to do my favourite challenge of this course, a kind of inventory, if you will, of your newsroom.

We’re going to get you to identify your allies, sceptics, resources and challenges, and then get you to launch the very first, small, steps towards building a more solutions-focused newsroom. 

I’ve set up a project plan template for you, but feel free to tweak it as you see fit.

Ready? Great, click here to get started. 

Learn from others 

Covid-19 swept through Swedish care homes for the elderly during the pandemic, but there were some care homes that had no cases at all during the first wave. What did they do right? 

This article by The Local was written as part of the daily news cycle and was based on copy from a Swedish news agency, and bulked out with a report by a public agency and a quick interview. 

It’s an example of a minimum viable product that shows how solutions journalism doesn’t have to take several days and in-depth interviews; it can just be a short article in a few hours.

What’s next?

Our course is almost coming to an end. In the next edition, we’ll look at why solutions journalism engages audiences and how to use it to boost revenue. I’ll also share my personal bumper list of links to resources that will help you develop the tricks you’ve learned in this course.

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