The Missing Voices in Solutions Journalism
Progressive, empowering, and effective. But is it always inclusive?
Solutions Journalism is a relatively new wave of progressive and effective news reporting with a focus on social development. Journalists in this realm seek to report on responses to social issues. They aim to do so through humanizing, engaging, and inclusive ways. Sometimes that inclusive mark is missed and journalists are called in to question for not giving the all their subjects an equal opportunity to weigh in on the issue at hand. The inclusion and equality that I argue for in solutions journalism is owed to the subjects afflicted by the issue in the story and to give them a chance to express their opinion for their plight and the proposed solutions.
The solutions journalism article, “The App Helping Africa’s Midwives Save Lives”, in News Deeply covers a response, a mobile health project, to combat maternal and neonatal crisis in Ethiopia. In the article, the Safe Delivery App (SDA) is highlighted as a response to the issue Ethiopian parents and babies face, the lack of adequate treatment for emergencies during birth. SDA launched in 2012 and was made available on smartphone devices around the world. The app provides basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care instructions to health workers such as midwives in communities where access to proper labor and delivery practices are limited or nonexistent. The app was developed through a design collaboration with Maternity Foundation, a NGO in Denmark, University of Southern Denmark and University of Copenhagen.
The article predicts that in 2017, 10,000 health workers throughout Africa and Asia will have access to the app and continue to use its feature to aid in labor/delivery emergencies. This claim is supported with statistics and successful results from past pilot projects of SDA. Additional support for the app and the increase in successful deliveries is explained by CEOs and project coordinators, people in power positions. This can be seen as problematic in solutions journalism. The issue I raise with this article is the lack of in-depth response from the parents and midwives.
Although, the article opens with a short anecdote of a labor and delivery emergency, not many direct quotes from the parents are used in comparison to the CEOs and project coordinators. I would include the father because maternal health doesn’t just affect women. Men can be affected in multiple ways as well such as single parenting if the mother passes during birth and/or the child doesn’t survive or is injured during the birth. Thus, this article is missing the element of inclusion because responses from the people that will directly benefit from SDA and the help of the midwives are not included. It is necessary to provide all subjects with the opportunity to amplify their voices and thoughts on the issue and proposed solutions. In brief, input from the parents would add to the article’s well-roundedness and humanized plight of African parents even more so the issue could transcend across racial and economic lines. Additionally, more insights from midwives and other front-line health workers were not shared. It is important to definitely have their voices heard in this article so they can give a first-hand account on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of SDA.
Furthermore, the lack of inclusion raises questions around community engagement. Were community members included in the development of the story? Did the journalist attempt to engage the community members at all? How do the community members feel about their portrayal and inclusion, or lack thereof, in the story? Community engagement is the key to journalists and community members joining forces to create an inclusive story. I feel that this article misses both the inclusion and community engagement mark.
However, there is evidence of the other aspects of solutions journalism in this article:
o Positives and limitations to the issue and/or solution:
- “And it can be preinstalled on phones, so once it’s downloaded, users don’t need a network connection or internet access to view the videos or other features,” (Ramrayka 2016).
- “When there is no time to watch the full video, the action cards give clear, essential recommendations and immediate care information…,” (Ramrayka 2016).
- “Frellsen says one of the key components of Maternity Foundation’s “backbone” support for its partners will be disseminating learning around the SDA and mobile health in general. “We are looking at how we can publish some of the learning for sharing with others who would like to use the app, but also more broadly as a case for how to scale up an mHealth [mobile health] tool,” she says,” (Ramrayka 2016).
o Effectiveness of the solution with results, not just the good intent:
- “…the first four of the app’s 10 videos were tested in a one-year, randomized controlled trial across 78 facilities in Ethiopia during 2014. Results show users’ skills in handling most common complications such as postpartum hemorrhage and newborn resuscitation more than doubled after 12 months of using the app,” (Ramrayka 2016).
o Offers insight that others can learn from:
- “There is also a new version of the app in the works, which will feature quizzes and a test (rewarded by a certificate) to “push” learning to the user and make the experience more interactive,” (Ramrayka 2016).
o Use of emotional appeal and storytelling effect to hold the reader’s attention:
-“For Ethiopian mother Mitike Birhanu, the birth of her twins almost ended in tragedy. She was unconscious when the second of her babies was delivered, and the newborn seemed lifeless. But her midwife quickly consulted an app on her smartphone, diagnosed the problems, and used emergency procedures to save both Mitike’s life and that of her child,” (Ramrayka 2016).
In closing, inclusion is vital to the humanization component of solutions journalism. The input of all subjects, especially those affected by the issue, should be included to make the article well rounded. Inclusion will also aid in amplifying community voices that are otherwise silenced or ignores. Community engagement is also key. Also, the article seek to address the global issue of maternal and neonatal care by proposing a solution, SDA, to the issue. The article highlights projections for the future and organizations actively seeking to improve care practices and the app. Finally, inclusion attempts to humanize the plights of the articles subjects in order to make their struggles identifiable and relatable to the readers.
https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/stories/the-app-helping-africa-s-midwives-save-lives
http://www.maternity.dk/about-the-app/what-is-the-app/
https://www.healthynewbornnetwork.org/hnn-content/uploads/SDA-1-Pager.pdf
