The Most Insightful Stories About Solutions Journalism Medium

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 6:59 AM

the most insightful stories about solutions journalism medium

We like to say solutions journalism is "hope with teeth" — not naive assumptions everything will resolve perfectly, but awareness of the scope of the problem and potential solutions, along with a belief in... So that's how our newsletter The Response wrapped up the year: 10 examples of hope with teeth. Below are the 10 most clicked stories from The Response newsletter for 2024, described by Allen Arthur, SJN's engagement director. Here's to a 2025 filled with many more creative, effective, encouraging responses. Preaching to polarized congregations: A responsibility and a challenge, clergy say — by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News ServiceThis thoughtful story explores the difficulties of leading churches during politically polarized times.

Facing fractures among churchgoers and their communities, clergy illustrate how they walk the tightrope of conflict and unity. Taiwan Learned You Can’t Fight Fake News by Making It Illegal — by Nick Aspinwall, Foreign PolicyAs social media enables falsehoods to spread quickly, people naturally debate the best way to combat the practice. Yet one of the most common demands — outlawing or otherwise censoring false information — doesn't seem to work well. Taiwan tried another, more effective approach. How to Start (and Run) a Bank That Puts People and Planet Over Profits — by Oscar Perry Abello, Next City"I would say to people, your money doesn’t sleep at night, you sleep at... But your money is spending the night doing something somewhere.

If you looked at a dollar bill as a magic carpet and you could get on that bill and ride around the world to see what your money is doing, would you be proud?” ‌Solutions journalism moves beyond bad news to explore what’s working. Learn how to tell rigorous, evidence-based stories that inform, engage, and inspire change. Let’s be honest—most news is a doomscrolling nightmare. War, corruption, climate disasters, economic meltdowns—it’s enough to make anyone want to throw their phone into the ocean and move to a cabin in the woods. But what if journalism didn’t just highlight problems—it also explored how people are actually fixing them?

That’s the heart of solutions journalism, a growing movement that shifts the focus from catastrophe to credible responses. Major outlets like The New York Times and The Seattle Times are embracing this approach, proving that rigorous reporting on real-world solutions can engage readers without sugarcoating reality. For experienced journalists, solutions journalism offers a refreshing change: a way to report on pressing social problems without leaving audiences feeling hopeless. It doesn’t just document failures—it investigates what’s working, why it works, and what others can learn from it. And let’s be honest, after years of covering nothing but scandals and disasters, wouldn’t it be nice to write something that actually gives people a little hope? For decades, journalism has thrived on the old adage: “If it bleeds, it leads.” But while disaster-driven headlines grab attention, they also fuel audience fatigue, mistrust, and disengagement.

Readers are tired of hearing about problems with no clear way forward. That’s where solutions journalism comes in—not as feel-good fluff, but as rigorous, evidence-based reporting on responses to social issues. Geopolitical tension and war are dominating front pages globally. That ongoing coverage is vital — but other angles deserve attention too, said Lola García-Ajofrín, a Spanish multimedia journalist. “When everyone is covering a problem, you can add value by asking questions, and looking at what element is missing,” she said. For example, how have societies previously divided by conflict begun reconciliation?

That question prompted her story on a pen pal scheme uniting French schoolchildren and their European neighbors in the aftermath of the Second World War. “If there’s 100 journalists, the job of 99 of them is to point to the problem. But 1% of us have to then go, ‘Well, what are we going to do about it?’ That’s where solutions journalism comes in. That’s what excites me,” said Oliver Balch, a British freelancer based in Portugal. Solutions journalism is “rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems,” according to the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN). Under its criteria, a solutions story must cover four pillars:

Major outlets including the New York Times and BBC have created solutions verticals or programs, while others publish solutions journalism without labeling it as such. Meanwhile some specialists, such as Positive News, Reasons to be Cheerful, and Next City, are dedicated to this approach. Solutions journalism offers comprehensive coverage of an issue by proposing solutions rather than just focusing on the problem. The Center for Media Engagement set out to determine how certain components of solutions journalism affect the way readers evaluate both the reporting and the issue. We found that stories covering several core components of solutions journalism: Solutions journalism strives to include what is sometimes overlooked: reporting not just about the problems facing society, but about how communities respond to them.

The Center for Media Engagement previously found that readers of solutions journalism feel more informed, optimistic, and interested in engaging with an issue. But solutions journalism is about more than stating a possible solution to a problem. This study, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with contributions from The Impact Architects, breaks down solutions journalism into five core components: This project sought to understand the value of reporting on these components and to determine whether certain components are more powerful in affecting readers’ attitudes. Articles that included all five components of solutions journalism: When it comes to solutions journalism, the more information you can provide readers, the better.

Adding additional components beyond the problem and the solution (i.e. implementation, results, and insights) can bolster positive responses to your work. Readers who are given all five components feel more positive about the issue, rate the article as higher quality, and are more likely to “like” a similar article on Facebook. Reading articles with all five components also inspired heightened interest in the issue and more of a willingness to read future articles about the issue. This could be especially useful for news organizations trying to attract loyal readers to a reporting series. News organizations around the world are transforming journalism — and their communities.

See how a global network of news organizations and journalists uses solutions journalism to strengthen communities, advance equity, build trust, increase civic engagement, depolarize public discourse and discover new sources of revenue. How has solutions journalism made a difference in your world? Add an impact story to the Impact Tracker.

The Most Insightful Stories About Solutions Journalism Medium

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