In 2021, Graham Media Group launched ‘Solutionaries’, a digital-first franchise focused on solutions journalism and celebrating the thinkers and doers with ideas to help make the world a better place. As the franchise has steadily grown, Catherine Badalamente, president and CEO of GMG, and Solutionaries producer Jeremy Allen outlined why solutions journalism is important to all of our communities in a special interview with TVNewsCheck. Excerpts of that article are below.
Catherine Badalamente, president and CEO of Graham Media Group, says many TV news brands “have a really bad rap just for reporting on all the bad things that happen in certain communities, which is really not fair.” She observes that solutions journalism doesn’t necessarily have to be “good news,” but “news that’s good for you,” the viewer.
“It can be about something that’s really challenging, but also trying to find the people that are trying to fix it [and] improve their communities,” she says.
After learning about solutions journalism three years ago in conversation with people from the Knight Foundation and the Solutions Journalism Network, Badalamente gathered the Graham digital team to devise some solutions-focused programming. The result, initially piloted at WKMG Orlando, Fla., before becoming primarily a national YouTube feature, was Solutionaries, a series that, according to its web description, “highlights creative thinkers and doers in communities focused on making a positive impact.”
“Our intention is to be intentional about providing a positive outlook and not having people come away from our stories thinking that there is no answer and feeling hopeless, instead knowing that there is support, there are people helping and that there are solutions,” says Jeremy Allen, the executive producer of Solutionaries who, like others who work on the show, engaged in SJN training in the run up to its launch. “People are clamoring for this type of material.”
Solutionaries has provided plausible solutions to everything from work burnout to school absenteeism, roadside dangers to hurricane home damage. Badalamente, who says solutions journalism is important to her and something she believes in, has overseen the recent launch of the Solutionaries podcast — an indication of the initiative’s success.
Allen says the audience’s response, based on YouTube comments and other conversations he and his team have had, has been “very positive.
“There’s an appreciation for at least an effort to find something positive to report about or to offer an answer to problems instead of offering more problems to problems,” he says.
But Allen adds that a “major part” of solutions journalism is “poking holes in the solutions we’re offering.” It’s an acknowledgement that there may be imperfections to a given solution that’s been presented, and that it may not solve everyone’s problems, he says. “But it’s a thing that is moving the needle in a positive direction,” he continues. “The more transparent and honest we are about knowing the flaws and limitations there are in our reporting, the more connective tissue that forms between us and our audience.”
To read the full TVNewsCheck article, click here.