Meet the 2022 Solutions Journalism Student Media Challenge Cohort
The Solutions Journalism Network launches its first-ever Student Media Challenge with eight university and college newsrooms.
The Solutions Journalism Network is excited to announce the inaugural cohort for the Solutions Journalism Student Media Challenge. These eight college and university newsrooms will learn how to incorporate solutions journalism into their media operations. The newsrooms will complete reporting projects focused on some of the ways people and organizations are trying to fix problems in their communities, and find ways to create more audience engagement. Training students in solutions journalism will help them cover complex social issues deeply and equitably, as well as help prepare them for internships and jobs.
This is the Solutions Journalism Network’s first cohort of student newsrooms and builds on SJN’s work with colleges and universities to further the spread of solutions journalism, which is rigorous, fact-based reporting on responses to problems. We recognize that student media outlets play a vital role in local news ecosystems. As more communities grapple with becoming news deserts, student newsrooms are poised to assume even greater responsibility for informing the public about news well beyond their campuses.
Each newsroom will receive $10,000, training and support to report on solutions stories throughout the 2022–23 academic year. Over 60 student newsrooms responded to SJN’s application, and the following are the winners:
Díg en Español at California State University Long Beach is the city’s first and only Spanish-language magazine. The student journalists at the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) also publish bilingual content on their website and social media. Díg en Español plans to look at who’s solving some of the housing challenges facing the Latinx community in the city, which is part of high-cost Los Angeles County, and other social issues, such as education and racial disparities.
El Don at Santa Ana College will examine financial solutions in their community. The newsroom plans to delve into some of the ways people in the community are dealing with the financial insecurities that many students at the HSI and other members of the community face. The staff is also looking forward to finding new ways to engage the community in their work and has previously run workshops to teach community members how to create zines.
Howard University News Service at Howard University distributes content to student and professional news outlets across the nation, including other HBCUs and members of the Black Press. The news service plans to focus on solutions to climate and environmental issues, which disproportionately affect the Black community, as well as growing threats to voting rights and the ongoing threat of Covid-19 to Black Americans.
Queen’s University News Service at the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte covers stories that local news organizations don’t have resources to invest in. The news service will focus on solutions to community issues that are being provided by local faith-based institutions in one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
KOMU 8 News at the University of Missouri, is the mid-Missouri NBC affiliate station staffed by nearly all University of Missouri students. The newsroom will report on solutions to issues affecting economic development and sustainability in Missouri’s rural towns. The area has been adversely impacted by population loss, weather events and other economic issues, and the staff is ready to find some of the ways residents are being helped.
Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University reports on environmental challenges such as climate, food agriculture, biodiversity, poverty, racial justice and pollution. In addition to providing stories to media outlets throughout Michigan, the news service plans to expand its Food Fix podcast that focuses on food systems innovations and to venture into finding ways to report on solutions via social media.
The Oglethorpe Echo at the University of Georgia is a 148-year old weekly newspaper that was at risk of shutting down and leaving a county-wide news desert until students recently took over all editorial operations. The newsroom covers Oglethorpe County and will report on solutions related to inequality, including environmental inequities, racial and ethnic disparities, political disenfranchisement and economic development.
Murrow News Service at Washington State University will report on solutions that help preserve the arts and culture in rural communities of the Pacific Northwest, with an emphasis on communities of color and arts in education through multimedia and visual journalism. The newsroom hopes its coverage will challenge stereotypes about what these communities themselves look like and care about.
