Fellowships
Journalists of Color
SJN's Fellowship for Journalists of Color provides training, mentoring, an honorarium and a community of practice to support the next generation of journalism leaders. Fellows learn how to bring a solutions-focused lens to social issues affecting historically marginalized communities in the U.S., and how to use their knowledge of solutions journalism to advance their own careers as reporters, editors and producers.
Visualizing trust
A short, solutions-oriented documentary about a rainwater management system in India led to increased trust for the journalist and journalism. A scientist whose research was featured, for example, said he appreciated the nuanced perspective of solutions journalism and expressed willingness to share additional data. Other people featured in the story also said they found the reporting balanced and well rounded, and that it encouraged them to carry on with their work.
LEDE
In January 2022, SJN launched its third LEDE Fellowship, bringing together 16 journalism entrepreneurs worldwide to create and lead projects that spread solutions journalism in their communities.
Beyond continuing to catalyze solutions stories, training new solutions journalists and generating new community impact, the 2022 LEDE fellows saw historic breakthroughs including: the first solutions journalism website and training hub in South Sudan; the first vetted longform solutions journalism YouTube series from India; the first collaborative to catalyze climate reporting on solutions journalism in Spanish; and the first solutions stories reported live in prisons, for people who are transitioning out of incarceration.
Mpindi Abaas, a 2020 SJN LEDE Fellow and longtime proponent of solutions journalism, launched Solutions Now Africa, a newsroom based in Uganda run by seven alumni of the Media Challenge Fellowship Program. Africa’s first solutions journalism newsroom, it produces stories on innovations, models and systems that are working across the continent. The newsroom is also using solutions stories to challenge negative narratives about Africa.
Complicating the Narratives
In June 2022, SJN launched the next iteration of its work on Complicating the Narratives (CTN), based on the journalist Amanda Ripley’s landmark essay of the same name. The CTN training equips journalists to “amplify contradictions,” to “ask questions that get to people’s motivations,” to “listen more, and better,” to “expose people to the other side,” and to “counter confirmation bias (carefully).”
A new yearlong fellowship launched this year invited U.S.-based journalists to integrate the practices of solutions journalism and CTN to produce stories on topics that have historically divided communities (e.g., vaccines, immigration, prison reform and the opioid crisis), but that are critical to community health. Fellows are also facilitating community events and producing practical resources and case studies that can help others learn from their work.
