2022-06-07 09:43
Credit: Photo by Kate Oseen on Unsplash
Opt for the audio medium when covering responses to societal problems
The beauty of podcasting is that you can have a half an hour conversation to explore complex conversations. That is a perfect fit for solutions journalism - defined as rigorous reporting on solutions to societal problems. We often associate this type of reporting with print or digital journalism, but it turns out podcasts might be your best shot to get into the weeds of the topic.
Allison Frost, senior producer for OPB's show Think Out Loud, talks to three fellow podcasters about how to make a solutions journalism podcast, writing for the Solutions Journalism Network's Medium account, The Whole Story.
Do not make the mistake of biting off more than you can chew. Focus on a slice of the problem you want to explore, rather than tackling a huge issue and getting overwhelmed by the workload.
"Social and environmental problems range from small to huge, and many are often interconnected. Focusing on a specific response to a specific problem is almost always best. In most cases you don’t have to worry about the problem being too small; any problem is going to be in a subset of a bigger problem," writes Frost.
