Engaging stigmatized communities through solutions journalism: Residents of South Los Angeles respond

Abstract

In many communities across the United States, substantive local news is a rare commodity. For areas long stigmatized and associated with high levels of violence, crime, and poverty, negative reporting may be the only local news available. Drawing from communication infrastructure theory and literature on local news audiences and civic journalism, this study explores how a local solutions journalism project is received by members of an underrepresented and stigmatized community. Solutions journalism stories focus on responses to social problems, usually exploring problem-solving efforts that have the potential to be scaled. This case examines how participants in six focus groups with 48 African-American and Latino South Los Angeles residents responded to solutions-oriented stories produced by a local media project. Study findings illustrate how residents navigate and critically interpret local media coverage, and how their response to ‘solutions journalism’ is largely positive but tempered by concerns regarding structural inequalities.

Adolescent and Parent Emotions and Perceptions Regarding News Media Stories About Bullying: a Qualitative Study

“…This type of news reporting has also been called solution-based journalism (McIntyre 2019). Engaging journalists to prioritize solution-based journalism for bullying stories may be an important approach to empower adolescents and their families (McIntyre 2019;Wenzel et al 2018).…”

“…Despite these limitations, our study provides novel insights into the influence of news articles about bullying. Implications of study findings include the potential to collaborate with journalists towards prioritizing public health-oriented and solution-based journalism towards empowering adolescents and their families (McIntyre 2019;Wenzel et al 2018). Researchers, educators, and communities could partner with journalists in an effort to increase awareness about evidence-based bullying prevention and intervention approaches.…”

Communicating science in an age of on-screen reading: taking a page from journalism

“…Indeed, public journalism seeks to treat the public as active participants instead of spectators, enabling individuals to not just learn about their problems but also act on them. 23…”

A new reporting approach for journalistic impact: Bringing together investigative reporting and solutions journalism

“…Solutions journalism distinguishes itself from advocacy as it does not seek to promote a particular political view or an agenda; rather, solutions reporting zeroes in on established and persistent social problems and uses traditional reporting methods to show ways in which these problems have been addressed (McIntyre, Lough, & Manzanares, 2018). Indeed, the “best” solutions journalism relies on the “rigor of investigative reporting” (Wenzel, Gerson, & Moreno, 2016, n.p.). Using investigative rigor to report on responses, “solutions journalism points out what’s right, hoping that someone can imitate it” (Benesch, 1998, p. 39).…”