African newsrooms are giving priority to solution journalism in their reporting according to the findings of the study of impact, innovation, threats and sustainability of digital entrepreneurs in Latin America, South Asia and Africa.
The Inflection Point International report by SEMBRA Media with support of Luminate and additional support of Centre for International Media Assistance released on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, noted a strong showing for solutions journalism in the region.
Forty-nine digital media organizations in Africa: from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa were interviewed for the study.
“Among the African media in this report, the most frequently reported type of journalism was breaking news, followed by opinion, fact-checking, and investigative reporting, but almost half of the African newsrooms interviewed said they were doing some form of solutions reporting,” the report stated in its findings and recommendations on the impact, innovation, threats, business models, and teams of digital native media
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The research team for the research in Africa highlighted that there had been a number of high-profile investments in solutions journalism training projects on the continent in the last two years, including the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative—a partnership between the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), Nigeria, Health Watch, and Science Africa—which provides fellowships and training for journalists.
“ In their call for the first cohort of Solutions Journalism Fellowships in Nigeria, Nigeria Health Watch describes how this type of reporting focuses on finding solutions to complex problems: Solutions Journalism adopts a solutions-oriented approach to storytelling; telling rigorous, investigative, and compelling stories of responses to existing social problems … It differs from the traditional, often problem-focused journalism because it highlights what works, as opposed to what does not, and goes further to investigate why an intervention or solution to a social problem was able to bring change.”
Nigeria Health Watch according to the report has a team of solutions journalism specialists trained by SJN. Their Torchlight Series reports on solutions to different health challenges in Nigeria and across the African continent, aiming to showcase innovative thinking and to offer new ideas to policymakers.
“It is our way of holding policymakers accountable by showing them that there is no excuse for inaction,” said co-founder and managing director Vivianne Ihekweazu.
In 2020, Tisini, a media-tech company based in Kenya, hosted the first Annual Tisini Football summit, sponsored by telecommunications company Safaricom, to explore “solutions towards improving Kenyan football’s financial affairs. The summit explored financial opportunities in football and how brands can get value for sponsorships and key challenges of financing football sectors,” according to an article on the Tisini website.
Although Tisini primarily covers sports, the news site also features stories that explore solutions to broader health and gender issues.
Solutions Journalism also appeared in the top 10 most frequently reported types of journalism in Southeast Asia, but at a significantly lower level. Of the 52 media we interviewed there, eight sites said they use this approach to covering complex topics.
