As the United States embarks on a historic election year, we are pleased to announce the newsrooms selected to participate in our nine-month Advancing Democracy Fellowship, which will help them transform their political coverage.

Run by four journalism support groups – Solutions Journalism Network, Hearken, Trusting News, and Good Conflict, this fellowship helps newsrooms shift their political reporting away from horse-race narratives focusing on candidates and opinion polls toward stories that prioritize the key concerns of communities, and highlight problem-solving approaches to address them, as well as be more transparent and nuanced in their reporting. Newsrooms participate in a curriculum that includes training in the Citizens Agenda approach, solutions journalism, Engaged Elections, Good Conflict and building trust with audiences.

Since 2022, more than 50 newsrooms have gone through this fellowship, and found that it has helped them increase traffic, build new audiences and increase community engagement. The impact of the fellowship is being studied by Professor Sue Robinson of the University of Wisconsin, who recently shared her findings that engagement, solutions-focused reporting, and trust-building coverage increased twofold to threefold in participating newsrooms, while horse-race reporting saw a significant reduction.

The 2024 Advancing Democracy Fellowship newsrooms are:

The newsrooms (in alphabetical order): 

• Canopy Atlanta – Georgia
• Capital B News – New York
• La Opinión – California
• Live 5 News – South Carolina
• Missoulian – Montana
• Northwest Public Broadcasting – Washington
• NotiVisión Georgia – Georgia
• Planeta Venus – Kansas
• Reckon – Alabama
• South Dakota News Watch – South Dakota
• Star Tribune – Minnesota
• The 19th – Texas
• The Austin Common – Texas
• The Journal – Kansas
• The Kansas City Defender – Kansas
• The Oklahoma Eagle – Oklahoma
• Tucson Sentinel – Arizona
• Vallejo Sun – California
• VNN Oklahoma – Oklahoma
• WRAL – North Carolina
• Yakima Herald-Republic/El Sol de Yakima – Washington

Here’s a brief video recap of our 2023 fellowship:

This fellowship is a joint initiative from Hearken, Solutions Journalism Network and Trusting News.

Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) is leading a global shift in journalism, focused on what the news misses most often: how people are trying to solve problems and what we can learn from their successes or failures. Since its founding in 2013, more than 600 news organizations and over 27,000 journalists worldwide have engaged with SJN’s in-person workshops, online resources, collaboratives, fellowships and cohorts.

Hearken  is a social impact consultancy that uses the power of community engagement to impact and influence systems for the public good. Hearken is an expert in deep listening, and their pioneering public-powered model and technology solutions have resulted in newsrooms around the world building listening and engagement into their strategies, workflows and bottom lines. 

Trusting News examines how people decide what news to trust and turns that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. Its staff trains and empowers journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. In a continual cycle of research, learning and sharing with the industry, Trusting News explores how to incorporate trust-building into journalism’s standards and practices.

This fellowship is made possible with financial support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Joyce Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Solutions Journalism Network.

For questions about the program and curricula, contact Jaisal Noor (jaisal[@]solutionsjournalism[.]org).

For questions about supporting the program, contact Elizabeth Share (elizabethshare[@]solutionsjournalism[.]org).