4 ms·

Constructive Journalism Pays Off

21 points by rapnie 5y ago

phkahler 5y ago
>> Its supporters claim it can meet today’s global challenges by providing nuanced reporting, presenting possible solutions to problems and fostering unifying discussions. nuanced reporting - sounds like making things complicated. "presenting possible solutions" - telling people how we our our backers think it should be handled. "fostering unifying discussions" - trying to get consensus for our plan. Yeah, I dont see how this is different except the last part changing from "creating echo chambers and creating division" so I guess it's a start.
civilized 5y ago
So, it sounds like there is this undefined concept called "constructive journalism" that is on the verge of getting big and has all possible positive qualities? How is this anything but meaningless marketing BS? Just give me the good old journalism that's about finding facts and prying underneath the propaganda of the powerful.
- phnofive 5y ago
  Unlike good old journalism, which has never sought to discuss solutions, nuance, or minority opinion, the Constructive Institute (which doesn't appear to be a Danish prank) has proposed Journalism for Tomorrow, which dares to editorialize and investigate issues in the way major American newspapers and smaller magazines have not: https://constructiveinstitute.org/what/ https://constructiveinstitute.org/what/
  - instagraham 5y ago
    which "dares" to editorialize and investigate issue? Im sorry, but there are so many stories about "solutions" out there, it's literally just an editorial choice for any magazine. Washington Post has an entire section called "Climate Solutions". Nothing daring about it. It's just regular journalism. Not a single aspect of "constructive journalism" isn't already a best practice for good journalism.
    - phnofive 5y ago
      Yes, I agree - the Post was actually the major newspaper I had in mind - but I was a little dry in mocking this innovation.
- _Nat_ 5y ago
  You're right.. a lot of this does look like meaningless marketing BS. The site looks like a smokescreen of positive vibes. It's like reading about a new self-help program that'll reject all of the bad in the world, take in all of the good, but... they just keep talking about how great it is and how wonderful all of the things that it does are; I can't seem to find a clear, objective description of what it is (except that it's something great and wonderful and awesome).
phnofive 5y ago
I got through about the first paragraph. > If Albert Einstein were alive today, he might well say that we are living through an age of boundless chance. Is this what constructive journalism is? Inventing quotes? > After all, he was said to have uttered, ‘In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity’, and there seems to be no end to crises at the moment. Okay, the fictitious attribution is based on an apocryphal one? Also, opportunity isn't the same thing as chance - please be careful with your thesaurus. > The coronavirus pandemic, accelerating and intensifying climate change, debilitating cyberattacks, doubts about the health of democracy. Technical solutions exist for each of these problems, and in fact the health of democracy has never been stronger (in societies with representative governments): the people elect not to pay upfront for these solutions, and instead bear the piecemeal cost of leaving the problems unaddressed. > Watching the news or scanning the headlines online often feels like looking into the abyss — and this feeling makes many people turn away. I don't want or need constant exposure to the news - and you can't seriously be claiming news exposure is correlated with 'positive' choices. > And yet, it we trust Einstein (and he was definitely a smart guy!), the same situation can offer very different takeaways. Times of great challenge hold the potential for positive change. Ah, so you are. Hard to argue against, at least long as we trust the words you've stuffed into Einstein's mouth.
specialist 5y ago
"Constructive journalism is ... based around reporting solution-focused news, instead of revolving only around negative and conflict-based stories. The idea behind constructive journalism is to give stories more context and make the consumer of the news more intelligent. ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_journalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_journalism Cool. I hope they succeed. Though I can't imagine how, without an endowment or something. Any ad supported media will, sooner than later, join the race to the bottom.

21 points by rapnie 5y ago

>> Its supporters claim it can meet today’s global challenges by providing nuanced reporting, presenting possible solutions to problems and fostering unifying discussions. nuanced reporting - sounds like making things complicated. "presenting possible solutions" - telling people how we our our backers think it should be handled. "fostering unifying discussions" - trying to get consensus for our plan. Yeah, I dont see how this is different except the last part changing from "creating echo chambers and creating division" so I guess it's a start.

civilized 5y ago

So, it sounds like there is this undefined concept called "constructive journalism" that is on the verge of getting big and has all possible positive qualities? How is this anything but meaningless marketing BS? Just give me the good old journalism that's about finding facts and prying underneath the propaganda of the powerful.

phnofive 5y ago
Unlike good old journalism, which has never sought to discuss solutions, nuance, or minority opinion, the Constructive Institute (which doesn't appear to be a Danish prank) has proposed Journalism for Tomorrow, which dares to editorialize and investigate issues in the way major American newspapers and smaller magazines have not: https://constructiveinstitute.org/what/ https://constructiveinstitute.org/what/
- instagraham 5y ago
  which "dares" to editorialize and investigate issue? Im sorry, but there are so many stories about "solutions" out there, it's literally just an editorial choice for any magazine. Washington Post has an entire section called "Climate Solutions". Nothing daring about it. It's just regular journalism. Not a single aspect of "constructive journalism" isn't already a best practice for good journalism.
  - phnofive 5y ago
    Yes, I agree - the Post was actually the major newspaper I had in mind - but I was a little dry in mocking this innovation.
_Nat_ 5y ago
You're right.. a lot of this does look like meaningless marketing BS. The site looks like a smokescreen of positive vibes. It's like reading about a new self-help program that'll reject all of the bad in the world, take in all of the good, but... they just keep talking about how great it is and how wonderful all of the things that it does are; I can't seem to find a clear, objective description of what it is (except that it's something great and wonderful and awesome).

phnofive 5y ago

I got through about the first paragraph. > If Albert Einstein were alive today, he might well say that we are living through an age of boundless chance. Is this what constructive journalism is? Inventing quotes? > After all, he was said to have uttered, ‘In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity’, and there seems to be no end to crises at the moment. Okay, the fictitious attribution is based on an apocryphal one? Also, opportunity isn't the same thing as chance - please be careful with your thesaurus. > The coronavirus pandemic, accelerating and intensifying climate change, debilitating cyberattacks, doubts about the health of democracy. Technical solutions exist for each of these problems, and in fact the health of democracy has never been stronger (in societies with representative governments): the people elect not to pay upfront for these solutions, and instead bear the piecemeal cost of leaving the problems unaddressed. > Watching the news or scanning the headlines online often feels like looking into the abyss — and this feeling makes many people turn away. I don't want or need constant exposure to the news - and you can't seriously be claiming news exposure is correlated with 'positive' choices. > And yet, it we trust Einstein (and he was definitely a smart guy!), the same situation can offer very different takeaways. Times of great challenge hold the potential for positive change. Ah, so you are. Hard to argue against, at least long as we trust the words you've stuffed into Einstein's mouth.

specialist 5y ago

"Constructive journalism is ... based around reporting solution-focused news, instead of revolving only around negative and conflict-based stories. The idea behind constructive journalism is to give stories more context and make the consumer of the news more intelligent. ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_journalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_journalism Cool. I hope they succeed. Though I can't imagine how, without an endowment or something. Any ad supported media will, sooner than later, join the race to the bottom.