Boosting Revenue with Solutions Journalism

Solutions journalism is an approach to news reporting that focuses on responses to social issues, rather than solely on the problems themselves. Can it be a boon to business for local publishers as well?

Alec Saelens stumbled his way into local journalism in the UK about a decade ago. Unhappy with the quality of the journalism in the area, Alec and a group of friends founded The Bristol Cable in 2014.

The project was a rejection of tabloid culture in the UK, where stories were blown out of proportion without offering any solutions.

The Cable was adopted as a cooperative – a multi stakeholder arrangement where employees and members of the community are legal shareholders in the organization. Alec and his friends started the project to see if it had legs, and ten years later it’s still a success.

The Bristol Cable brings in 40% of revenue from membership, with more from donors and standard advertising. The model gives one member one vote, meaning that no one funder would hold more sway over editorial than others.

Other examples of similar community-based outlets have sprung up in the UK in recent years, not necessarily using the same business model. Most are focused on reader generated revenue. Some examples include Greater Govanhill and The Manchester Mill.

Alec eventually moved on from The Cable and was hired by Solutions Journalism Network to run a local revenue project with the hypothesis that solutions journalism could increase revenue for local newsrooms. The initial cohort included 12 newsrooms in the US who were in different states, used different business models, were different sizes, and different ages.

Alec’s first order of business was bringing the local publishers up to speed on solutions journalism, which offers solutions to social issues backed by data and insights.

The experiment ran for 12 months and showed that the innovation of solutions journalism work could very much help them generate revenue.

The study revealed that 75% of the newsrooms generated revenue directly from employing solutions journalism. Mostly this meant that the newsrooms pitched financial backers with the benefits of their solutions-based approach with success. (Go listen to my episode with Richard E. Brown for more thoughts on creating relationships with aligned advertisers)

The financial backers they found were primarily philanthropic, but did include local businesses as well. The revenue mix that Alec has seen in the US: convincing foundations to come on, as well as major donors. Sponsorships from corporate as well as local businesses, and membership programs are key. Note: Alec is a proponent of changing the language to membership as opposed to subscription to get away from the transactional nature of it and grow the sense of community.

Feedback showed that this solutions journalism approach works well to organizations who are interested in systems change work helping specific problems in a local community – think health, homelessness, unemployment, etc.

Another takeaway for local publishers: using the term solutions journalism may not be the best tactic, as the average reader who’s not up to date on industry jargon may associate it with opinion journalism, which it is not.

More recently Alec has been focused on impact tracking. What are the effects of the journalism, what is coming of the reporting? Alec thinks this should be placed higher on the priority list for local publishers.

Have a listen to the full episode wherever podcasts are found, and make sure to give Alec a follow on LinkedIn to stay up to date on the solutions journalism approach for local publishers.