How the Media Can Effect Positive Change

How the news media can affect
positive change
Mallary Tenore, Images & Voices of Hope

Images & Voices of Hope
• A nonprofit that shows how the media can
create meaningful awareness and change.
– Website: ivoh.org
– Twitter: @ivohMedia
– Facebook: Facebook.com/ivoh.org

How to create positive social
awareness & change?
• By telling stories that …
– Deviate from the “if it bleeds, it leads mentality”
– Focus on recovery and resilience, instead of
violence and despair
– Help people & communities connect after
tragedies
– Focus on solutions instead of problems

Moving away from the “if it bleeds, it
leads” mentality
There’s growing interest in uplifting news.
Why?
Social media is a
big factor…
Stock image

leads” mentality

leads” mentality
• “The recipe for attracting visitors online is
changing. Bloggers have traditionally turned
to sarcasm and snark to draw attention. But
the success of sites like BuzzFeed and
Upworthy, whose philosophies embrace the
viral nature of upbeat stories, hints that the
Web craves positivity. …” – Time Magazine

leads” mentality
• “…The reason: social media. Researchers are
discovering that people want to create positive
images of themselves online by sharing upbeat
stories. And with more people turning to
Facebook and Twitter to find out what’s
happening in the world, news stories need to
cheer up in order to court an audience. If social is
the future of media, then optimistic stories might
be media’s future.” – Time Magazine

Stories that highlight the positive
Jonah Berger, author of “Contagious: Why Things Catch
On,” monitored the stories on The New York Times’
Most-Emailed List for six months and found positive
stories were more likely to appear on the list than
negative ones.
“What we share [or like] is almost like the car we drive or
the clothes we wear,” Berger says. “It says something
about us to other people. So people would much
rather be seen as a Positive Polly than a Debbie
Downer.”
– Time Magazine

Some examples…
This is the most popular story ever on
BuzzFeed….

This story gained more than 15 million views in
just a few months and raised more than
$300,000 for cancer research.

Effect of stories that highlight the
positive
Research suggests that uplifting news can
motivate people to do good in the world.

Effect of stories that accentuate the
positive
• A 2011 study, publishing in the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology examined
the “warm, uplifting feeling we get from
watching someone act with courage and
compassion – a feeling psychologists refer to
as ‘moral elevation.’ Researchers have found
that elevation induces positive emotions,
makes people believe in the goodness of
humanity, and inspires them to act more
altruistically.” -- GreaterGood.com

leads” mentality
• By contrast, research shows that “If it bleeds,
it leads” news about violence can actually lead
to more violence.

leads” mentality
• “There is now consensus that exposure to
media violence is linked to actual violent
behavior – a link found by many scholars to be
on par with the correlation of exposure to
second-hand smoke and the risk of lung
cancer. ….” – The New York Times

leads” mentality
• “….In a meta-analysis of 217 studies published
between 1957 and 1990, the psychologists
George Comstock and Haejung Paik found that
the short-term exposure to media violence on
actual physical violence against a person was
moderate to large in strength.” – The New
York Times

leads” mentality
• Of course, you can’t always write stories that
are uplifting or that inspire good deeds. But as
you cover your beats, you can keep these
stories top of mind – more so than you may
have in the past.

Restorative narratives

Restorative narratives
• What are restorative narratives?
– Stories that show how people and communities
are learning to rebuild and recover after difficult
times.
– Stories that require honest and sustained inquiries
and reveal hard truths.
– Stories that highlight possibility, revitalization and
resilience.

Restorative Narratives
• This type of storytelling isn’t new, but it’s
never really been given a good name. “Feature
stories” and “human interest” stories don’t
capture the depth of Restorative Narratives.
The word “restorative” – which is defined as
“having the ability to restore health, or a
feeling of well-being” – is a better fit; it
reflects resilience.

• These aren’t positive, happy-go-lucky fluff
pieces. They explore the rough emotional
terrain of disruptions like the Newtown school
shooting and the Boston Marathon bombings
and they reveal harsh realities. They’re
“positive,” though, in the sense that they
focus on themes such as growth and renewal
– themes that, at some point in our lives, we
can all relate to.

• We came up with the idea for these narratives
after reading Rachel Aviv’s December 2012
New Yorker article about how The Newtown
Bee, a small community newspaper,
responded to the Newtown shooting. The
paper’s editor, Curtiss Clark, really listened to
what readers wanted during that time; he
asked them questions and acted on their
responses. He found himself thinking about
the paper’s greater purpose…

• “He didn’t care if national reporters thought
he lacked a ‘hard-ass clinical angle. When he
learned that a camera crew had rung the
doorbell of parents who had just lost their
child, he wrote a letter to the New England
Newspaper and Press Association, urging the
media to stop ‘invading the yards and space of
grieving survivors.’” – New Yorker article

• After a tragedy like the Newtown school
shooting, the media swoops in and covers the
story. This is understandable; the media is
supposed to inform people about what
happened. As days and weeks pass, though,
these stories become less of a focus and we
move on to other newsier stories…

… But what if we stuck with the story more?

• … What if we as journalists were more
proactive about the “what’s next” stories that
explain how people and communities are
learning to cope with tragedy? What if we put
as much emphasis on recovery and restoration
as we do on tragedy and devastation?

• These stories aren’t always easy to tell, due to
a lack of time and resources. But they have
the potential to create impact. Resilience is a
learned skill. By telling stories about how
people and communities are bouncing back
and recovering from difficult times, the media
can help others learn from them.

Restorative Narratives: Examples
A new San Francisco State University
project is bringing together students
from the university’s Japanese studies
and journalism programs to report on
the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami,
earthquake and nuclear power plant
disaster. During their trip, students will
focus specifically on how displaced
residents are recovering from the
tragic disaster.
Professor & ivoh board
member Jon Funabiki,
who’s leading the
project.

• “The project will focus on residents living in
trailer homes in temporary housing
developments. … The students will produce
journalistic stories about the residents, using
their personal experiences as ways to touch on a
broad range of recovery issues, such as the loss of
homes and jobs; lingering trauma; environmental
cleanup efforts, the educational and emotional
needs of children; and the need to rebuild
community and a sense of hope for the future.”
(From a news release.)

• A New York Times story about two brothers
who were injured in the Boston bombings and
are now trying to recover, emotionally and
psychically.

• The story focuses on the brothers’ progression
and how far they’ve come over the past year,
but doesn’t gloss over the fact that they still
struggle.
• “I’m happy most of the time,” one of the
brothers says in the story. “But it’s so
frustrating when you can’t do what you want
to do; you feel like you’re not even a man.”

Dallas Morning News reporter
Scott Farwell wrote a
compelling eight-part series
about Lauren Kavanaugh, a
young woman whose mother
and stepfather locked her in a
closet, starved her and abused
her for six years.Photo by Sonya Hebert-Schwartz,
used with permission from the
DMN.

Farwell’s series is painful at times
to read; he highlights the horrible
experiences Lauren endured as a
child. But it also focuses on where
she is today, more than a decade
later. He wanted to show her
resilience – and at his editor’s
prodding – reflect hope.

“[Dallas Morning News Editor Bob
Mong] wanted me to reconfigure
the first days to give more of a
whiff of hope – to let people know
that this was going to be a painful
journey, but if you stuck with us,
there would be some emotional
payoff in the end and something
restorative that you could look
forward to,” Farwell told ivoh.org.

“There was value in showing how a
young girl who was tortured could
survive. “We began to feel like this
was a story that in some way
everybody could relate to,” Farwell
told ivoh. “The idea that Lauren,
who had been through this
nightmare, was able to get up every
day and function and walk forward
and make sense of it, and try to
make a life for herself – we thought
it would be meaningful for all of us.”
Photo by Sonya Hebert-Schwartz, used
with permission from the DMN.

Restorative Narratives don’t gloss over hard
truths, or pretend everything’s ok in the end.
They do, however, show progress.
• “What we leave people with is incredibly
important. There is certainly a temptation to put
a pretty little bow on stories, particularly a story
about somebody who’s been hurt and is putting
her life back together,” Farwell told ivoh. …

• “…As a writer, I wanted to be emotionally
accurate and honest in the betrayal of Lauren,
and I wanted to make sure we had a scene or
dialogue or whatever it was at the conclusion
of the story that left readers with the feeling
that this human being is remarkable. It is a
triumph of the human spirit that [Lauren] can
function in the world – and yet there are many
challenges ahead for her.”

Restorative Narratives: Impact
• There’s a desire for this type of
storytelling. The response to
Farwell’s story was
“unprecedented,” Farwell said.
During the eight days it ran online,
it received half a million unique
page views. That same week, The
Dallas Morning News’ print
circulation increased by 5 percent.

Helping people, communities connect
After a tornado swept through Moore, Oklahoma, last year, the Daily
Oklahoman wanted to help those who were displaced and affected by the
disaster. “We created this page so people could connect with others and help
share information and whereabouts,” the page reads.

“We just kind of came together and
asked ourselves what more we could be
doing for the community,” Tiffany
Gibson, a news and Web editor at The
Oklahoman, told ivoh. “We noticed on
social media a lot of people were
[saying], ‘I can’t contact this person, or
reception is jammed.’” So, The
Oklahoman asked people to post photos
of items they found in the debris. As a
result of the Facebook page, people
were able to locate important
belongings and find loved ones.

The Boston Globe created a Google doc called “I have a place to offer” for out-of-town
runners who were in need of a place to stay for an extra night in Boston.

“We were totally caught off-guard by how many
people were willing to offer their places to out-
of-towners or residents who didn’t have access to
their hotels or homes,” Boston Globe data
producer Andrew Tran told ivoh. “It spread so fast
through social media. I think it was a needed
contrast to all that chaos at that moment … [and]
a way to express empathy and unity. It showed
that people want some way to help, even if it’s as
fleeting as filling out a form in a Google
document.”

Solutions Journalism
The media reports a lot on problems in
communities and stories. What if it reported
on solutions as often as it reports on
problems?

What is solutions journalism?
– “Critical and clear-eyed reporting that investigates and
explains critical responses to social problems.”
– It’s “about ideas, how people are trying to make them
work, and the observable or measurable effects
they’re producing. What makes solutions journalism
compelling is the discovery – the journey that brings
the reader or viewer to an insight about how the
world works and, perhaps, how it could be made to
work better.” – The Solutions Journalism Network

Solutions Journalism: Examples
From the Seattle Times …

• This San Francisco Chronicle story, written by
Kevin Fagan, introduces a solution to the city’s
homeless problem and “makes a compelling,
evidence-based case for its inclusion in the
realm of solutions. … It’s implicit that a bus
ticket home will not solve the problem of
homelessness, but the … narrative makes
apparent that for a certain segment of the
population, this program is exactly the
remedy.” – The Solutions Journalism Network

Solutions Journalism: Impact
“If done well, solutions journalism
makes our reporting stronger and
more complete. It injects valuable
information into the public
conversation, attracts readers and
engages them deeply, and helps
de-polarize the public debate.” –
David Bornstein, Solutions
Journalism Network co-founder,
told The American Press Institute.

Solutions Journalism: Impact
“Covering responses to
problems without advocacy,
PR, or fluff makes journalism
stronger and has the
potential to make society
stronger.” – Tina Rosenberg,
Network co-founder, told
News University.

In conclusion …
How can we effect positive change as journalists?
-- Realize that “if it bleeds, it leads” isn’t the type of
news people are craving.
– Stick with stories in the wake of difficult times. How
are people bouncing back and becoming resilient?
– Look for ways to connect people in the aftermath of
tragedies and natural disasters.
– Report on solutions as rigorously as you would report
on problems.

Images & Voices of Hope summit
Meet some of the journalists featured in this
Webinar & learn more about restorative
narratives at our annual media summit.
Register at
ivoh.org/summ
it

Questions?
• Message me with questions and feedback:
Mallary Jean Tenore (mtenore@ivoh.org;
@mallarytenore)
Managing director of Images & Voices of Hope
Support us: ivoh.org/donate
Thank you! 

How the Media Can Effect Positive Change

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