Solutions journalism as a symptom of fundamental changes for French local journalists
Solutions journalism as a symptom of fundamental changes for French local journalists

Author(s): Pauline Amiel
Subject(s): Media studies, Theory of Communication, Applied Sociology
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: France; solutions journalism; French local journalists; local newspapers; reporting; social issues;
Summary/Abstract: Since 1995, French local newspapers have been publishing news online. The economical crisis of these media is linked to the rise of the web, according to journalists. Solutions journalism, as a professional concept, has been emerging in that context since 2015. Also called constructivist journalism or SoJo by journalists, it began to appear in the professional vocabulary at the end of the 1990’s (Benesh, 1998). For Alexander Curry and Keith Hammonds (2014), ”solutions journalism is reporting about responses to entrenched social problems. It examines instances where people, institutions, and communities are working toward solutions. Solutions-based stories focus not just on what may be working, but how and why it appears to be working, or, alternatively, why it may be stumbling”. In 2007, the New York Times (United States) and Berlingske Media (Denmark) newsrooms wanted to promote a journalistic way of working to bring solutions to societal issues. Editors encouraging this method assured that they wanted to get out of agenda setting (McCombs & Shaw, 1972) so as to increase reporting (Amiel, 2017).

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