Solutions journalism on the coronavirus: how to get started
If you missed our webinars last week, here are the recordings with all the tips and information about how to tell the whole story.
Every day we learn more about the global pandemic that has infected hundreds of thousands of people and has many others confined to their homes. Simultaneously, there are local and global efforts working to tackle the problems surrounding this serious outbreak. Audiences need solid reporting on both the problems and the responses to get a sense of the whole story of this pandemic.
“Solutions journalism is rigorous, evidence-based reporting on responses to social problems.”
At the Solutions Journalism Network, we’ve heard from many journalists who are looking for new and useful ways to cover the many crises we now face. So we recently offered two webinars to help them get started and we recorded the sessions for those who couldn’t attend. So check them out, or listen again — and let us know what you think.
Solutions Journalism 101: Covering the Coronavirus Outbreak
This webinar is designed for journalists who are new to solutions journalism and want to learn to use it in covering the novel coronavirus. The session covers the four pillars of solutions journalism (response, limitations, insights and evidence) using examples from the growing number of solutions-focused stories related to the pandemic.
Advancing Solutions Journalism Coverage Amid the Coronavirus Outbreak
This webinar is designed for journalists who have some experience doing solutions journalism, but want support using it in their COVID-19 reporting. We discuss the four pillars again, briefly, then spend more time discussing some of the important questions to ask when looking for and writing solutions stories.
Looking for more?
If you’d rather read than listen, here are three recent blog posts on how to use solutions journalism in your reporting on COVID-19 with more to come on Medium.
We also provide training modules focused on specific beats, television news reporting, editing, and more. See what other solutions journalists are reporting about COVID-19 on our Story Tracker®.
Other outside resources
Finally, here are a few non-solutions journalism resources that might help you in your COVID-19 reporting:
- Do’s and Don’ts of Reporting on COVID-19 — from a non-science background
- The folks at “On The Media” from WNYC have a recent episode about how things can go wrong when reporting on COVID-19.
- Another “On The Media” episode from 2014 has great tips for new health and science reporters.
- OXFORD COVID-19 GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TRACKER
- ESRI: COVID-19 Maps, resources, and insights
