Can solutions journalism in local media be the solution to news fatigue in Spain?

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News avoidance is an increasingly prevalent symptom. 39% now say they sometimes or often avoid the news – up 3 percentage points on last year’s average – according to data from the 2024 Reuters Digital News Report. The declining interest is especially marked among the younger news consumers. 

Spain appeared as one of the countries with the largest falls in the past decade (2015-2024), going from 85% extremely or very interested in news in 2015 to 52% last year (-33%), according to the Reuters report. The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, polarisation, social media, disillusion with politics, or the pandemic may have had some impact on this trend. 

User needs

Faced with this situation, the media outlets are looking for solutions to reconnect with their audience. One way to do this could be through the implementation of solutions journalism, especially through local media. Citizens are usually very attached to their local outlet, which values the community they live in. Local journalism brings things that national outlets cannot.

People really trust their local media because of the local approach, the sense of community, and the face-to-face opportunities. So that’s a huge opportunity for them to strengthen the relationship and engagement with their audiences

Alfredo Casares, founder and director of the Instituto de Periodismo Constructivo

Founder and director of the Instituto de Periodismo Constructivo, he has helped a few Spanish local publishers – through workshops and training sessions – to implement solutions and constructive journalism approaches in their content strategy.

The plan is to continue to do stories that update people about the latest news and, at the same time, do other stories that educate, inspire, provide perspectives and solutions, according to the user needs framework. Data from the Reuters Institute showed that the three most important user needs globally are staying up to date (update me), learning more (educate me), and gaining varied perspectives (give me perspective), which is akin to solutions or constructive journalism.

“It’s a type of journalism that investigates the answers, the responses that the communities are developing to try to fight against the main challenges. And instructing the learners and insights that others can use,” explained Casares, who wrote a book, La hora del periodismo constructivo, on this topic. “In this environment of polarisation, lack of confidence, and disinformation, local media is like a refuge, like a shelter.” Since 2021, he has trained more than 300 journalists. Most of them are in Spain, but also some in Mexico and Brazil. 

Strengthen the relationship with audiences

“We thought it [the training] could be a breath of fresh air, a moment to reflect on our role in contemporary societies and on our relationship with the audiences,” explained Magdalena Trillo, digital transformation advisor for Grupo Joly, which owns 10 media outlets in Andalucía, South of Spain. Twenty professionals from four different editorial offices of the group have just started the Casares program to implement solutions journalism in their newsrooms.

“It allows us to balance the information offered by also directing the journalist’s gaze towards the future and the solutions and by inviting you to ask questions different from the usual ones. And if we also focus on what works, on what we do well as a society?” explained Trillo, who shares her very first impression of the training. “It’s not about turning a blind eye to the problems, but about formulating an approach, rigorous and hopeful complementarity, based on data. Today we are seeing that it is more necessary than ever to combat, in addition to information fatigue, sensationalism, trivialisation, and misinformation that we are suffering.”

Although local media are still very powerful in several regions of Spain, the country recorded more and more people who distrust information than those who trust it, respectively 40% versus 33%, according to data from the Reuters Institute. “In Spain, we have what academics call the pluralist polarised model. We come from a really huge interest in news in 2015 related to when [political party] Podemos was born and all the protests in Madrid after the crisis. However, the interest and the trust had decreased, and obviously, polarisation plays a huge role in that and disinformation as well,” explained Casares. 

Implementing solutions journalism could then help to fight news avoidance by regaining the trust of the audience. But it can also prove to be an important tool for the work of journalists. “For the writers, exploring new perspectives to tell their stories and understanding how other journalists and media outlets are trying to reconcile with the audiences is very positive. It reminds us all that there is no journalism without journalists,” explained Trillo.

Challenges 

The Spanish local newspaper Noticias de Gipuzkoa, in northern Spain, followed this training in 2021. This allowed the local outlet to develop solutions-orientated articles. Two of them – one on how an organisation helped prevent young people’s addiction to social media from school and another on an initiative promoted by several neighbours who dined every night with people living on the street in San Sebastián – were selected by the Solutions Journalism Network.

“At first we were able to carry out in our newspaper several reports applying the requirements of constructive journalism. However, over time we have not paid as much attention to constructive journalism because, unfortunately, the current journalism prioritises immediacy and less elaborate information,” explained Juan Manuel Molinero, managing editor at Noticias de Gipuzkoa.

Beyond that, perhaps the entire news cycle needs to be reviewed. With the development of social media in particular, everything is moving faster and faster in our world, including in terms of information. Producing new formats sometimes takes more time, which can be a challenge. “Journalism companies have long been committed to offering the information as quickly as possible, to the detriment of rest and pause, and the time it requires to produce information supported by constructive journalism,” said Molinero.

The crucial role of local media

Casares also underlined that some small actions can help local publishers to fight news avoidance. Some put in place a coffee shop inside their newsrooms, for example. Readers can then come in and talk to reporters or even participate in weekly editorial meetings, which increases their attachment to the outlet. 

“The closer you are, the more transparent you are,” said Casares. “More than 10 years ago, there was a trend of some local media wanting to be closer to their community. Some of them changed their locations, from outside the city to the city centre. So people can see how the reporters work, but it also means that you are very accountable.”

For Trillo, beyond fighting against news avoidance, it’s also a means to preserve the role and the viability of local media. “It’s not only in the face of news fatigue, but also in the face of the concerning news deserts that are also becoming widespread globally, leaving entire communities without anyone telling them what is happening in their city, in their neighbourhood.

We can all have access to the BBC or The New York Times, but who’s going to tell us what really matters most to us?

Magdalena Trillo, digital transformation advisor for Grupo Joly

Source of the cover photo: Courtesy of Alfredo Casares

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