Webinar: Making the business case for solutions journalism

This article shares resources from the second of 8 webinars to help journalists understand and implement solutions journalism in their newsrooms or as freelancers, thanks to the Walkley Public Fund and a partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network.

The series will wrap up in August. It will be followed by a grant program later this year. Grant applicants will need to have watched the training sessions — either live or on catch-up — as part of the application process.

OVERVIEW OF THE SESSION

Research has found that including solutions journalism content in your output can benefit your news organisation’s bottom line. Philanthropic institutions, major donors and businesses are more likely to financially support solutions coverage on issues that align with their missions and issues of interest.

Solutions content can also strengthen the value of your brand to your target audience, increasing the potential for individuals to open their wallets. From time on page and web stickiness, solutions can be leveraged to generate loyalty for greater sustainability.

But how do you move from including solutions stories in your output to revenue success?

TRAINER: Alec Saelens, Impact Manager, Solutions Journalism Revenue

Alec is SJN’s impact manager and former Revenue Project manager. He is passionate about helping newsrooms align editorial and business objectives by leveraging solutions journalism. He is a co-founder of The Bristol Cable, the UK’s pioneering local media cooperative. He worked as a researcher and coach for the Membership Puzzle Project and as an analyst for NewsGuard, assessing the transparency and reliability of news websites.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this webinar you will:

• Understand how a solutions approach can increase financial support for your media
• Understand how solutions reporting lead to higher audience engagement
• Understand the relationship between trust and willingness to pay
• Understand how to use this data to approach key financial stakeholders including sponsors, advertisers, philanthropic institutions and individual donors
• Understand how to make the business case to your revenue and sales teams
• Understand how to align your news organizations around solutions journalism and related revenue goals
• Hone in on arguments to present to financial stakeholders

RESOURCES

Key takeaways and reading list here.

Download a PDF of the slides here.

WEBINAR RECORDING

FULL LIST OF SESSIONS

1. Learn the fundamentals of solutions journalism — 20 November 2023
2. Making the business case for solutions journalism — 21 February 2024
3. Using solutions journalism to strengthen audience and community relationships — 20 March 2024
4. Using solutions journalism to cover diverse communities — 24 April 2024
5. Building solutions journalism into newsroom practice — 22 May 2024
6. Delivering and measuring the impact of solutions stories — 19 June 2024
7. Introduction to the Walkley Foundation Solutions Journalism Grant — 17 July 2024
8. Meeting with successful grantees — October 2023

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact Corinne Podger, Senior Manager for Programs and Education, with questions, suggestions, or examples of solutions storytelling you do as a result of this session.