It would seem that providing ‘solutions’ would be a basic of journalism, but that has raised the issue in the past of ‘objectivity.’ It raises the danger of the reporter taking on an advocacy role and that is wrong, but it is also providing advice and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It brings in mind a funny conversation I heard a manager at one of stations have with a carpenter. The carpenter had been called in because the sliding wood green screen wouldn’t slide properly.
After an hour of working on the wheels and bearings, the manager came in and the carpenter said, “it’s broke.”
“No shit,” said the manager. “Anybody can tell me it’s broke. I brought you in to fix it.”
The make-up of the board says something about the acceptance of solutions journalism as a important element of the new world of journalism.
NewsProfs 