Impact Stories

Employees of Nice-Matin saved the newspaper from bankruptcy in 2015 by becoming cooperative owners and launching a solutions journalism desk. In 2019, subscriptions had climbed 600% in three years, with solutions articles driving twice the number of subscriber conversions and keeping readers engaged three times longer compared with other content. Journalist Sophie Casals told the Membership Puzzle Project that solutions journalism led people “back to news” and increased reader trust.

Freelance journalist Meg McIntyre — through the Solutions Journalism Exchange — wrote a story for the Daily Yonder on a solar-powered broadband initiative that’s increasing Internet access in parts of rural Virginia. According to Adam Giorgi, a digital strategist for the Daily Yonder, a reader forwarded McIntyre’s story to someone who works in rural education in Kentucky, where a similar project has now cropped up.

KXAN’s Save Our Students (S.O.S.), a series of solutions stories exploring ways to improve the wellness and safety of youth, was a recipient of a number of national awards, including Best Broadcast (In-Depth Reporting) from Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, a Mental Health America Media Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award for “Excellence in Innovation” in its TV market category, and the Texas School Bell Award from the Texas State Teachers Association. KXAN also was a finalist for the 2020 “Service to America” large-market TV award from the National Association of Broadcasters.

A series of solutions stories focused on the Black community in Montgomery, Alabama, built trust that has resulted in better reporting and positive outcomes for the Montgomery Advertiser, which previously had served mostly white people in a city where the majority of residents are Black. Over two years, reporter Krista Johnson, who is white, focused a lot of her reporting on issues important to the Black community, such as an effort to turn one neighborhood into a Purpose Built Community, after a successful Atlanta revitalization program. The number of Black subscribers is up, part of an overall increase in readership that Bro Krift, the paper’s executive editor, reported was greater than at any other Gannett paper in 2019.

After investigative reporter Nichole Manna wrote about a program in Richmond, California, dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence, Fort Worth established a similar effort. That program, called VIP FW (Violence Intervention and Prevention Forth Worth) uses ex-convicts instead of police to intervene in and mediate conflicts. Manna's follow-up reporting (here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article245135960.html) found evidence that VIP FW is helping: In the first few months of its existence, its staff had talked with 175 people, spent 275 hours engaging with known or suspected shooters and mediated 25 conflicts. Its leaders believe they prevented at least 18 shootings.

The Community Voice in Wichita, Kansas, created a solutions-driven reporting project called the “The Criminalization of Poverty” as part of the Solutions Journalism Revenue Project. An introduction to the first article of the series (“They Stopped Suspending Licenses and Fine Collections Went Up”), explained the publication was “looking for solutions that work.” It used the same language in letters sent out to potential sponsors. In the first few months of fundraising, the publication raised $6,000 from private businesses and a foundation.