Searching for a new balance with Constructive News

There’s understandable scepticism among many journalists about approaches to “constructive journalism”. However, the newly formed Constructive Institute is at least endeavouring – rather belatedly perhaps – to change long-standing journalistic practices and cultures that have contributed to the current crisis of confidence in and within journalism.

My certified training in and induction to serious, local journalism in the UK was shaped by the tabloid “if it bleeds it leads” culture that the current click-bait-sensationalism of many on-line “news” outlets has taken to a logical extreme.

By the time I entered journalism in the late-1980’s, the media in Europe and North America had already started on what became a desperate, headlong race to the bottom driven by commercial rather than ethical imperatives.

It was this model of journalism, revered as a cornerstone of democracy, that colleagues in southern Africa – where I found myself living a few years later – and elsewhere in the developing world looked to for inspiration during the democratisation process that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Here, an emerging cadre of independent-minded journalists were already mindful of the constructive role journalism could and should play in their societies. The authors of the landmark Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press of 1991 recognised that, “consistent with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential for not only “the development and maintenance of democracy”, but also “for economic development”. Note, “development” not “destruction of”.

Coming from societies denied human rights, democracy and development for a century or more, these journalists felt it their responsibility to build their societies while also exposing the cronyism, corruption and kleptocracy that held their societies back.

A difficult balance to strike and maintain when so many factors – not least the struggle to survive – are working against you. Examples of journalism in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East that have found this balance remain few and far between. But almost 30 years on, there is plenty of experience and learning to be found in in these parts of the world when it comes trying to create a constructive blend of public interest journalism.

So, having now recognised the shortcomings of journalism here in Europe and North America, let’s show some humility as we go in search of solutions, and look south, east as well as west for inspiration.

Let’s see what IMS’ partners make of the move towards “constructive journalism”, and how this fits with their own efforts to unearth solutions to the problems they report on. Perhaps we could find ways of sharing with our partners issues raised during the upcoming Constructive Journalism Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, and of enabling partners to participate in and even host future conferences.