CONSTRUCTIVE JOURNALISM TOOLKIT
Changing Newsroom Culture
To successfully change the culture of a newsroom, start with help from outside advisors, a carefully designed process and buy-in from all managers.
This toolkit is based on the experience of Denmark’s TV2 Fyn. The station worked with the Constructive Institute to integrate a constructive approach.
The transformation process
Phase 1: Introduction
AUDIENCE SURVEY
At TV 2 Fyn, the process began with a questionnaire delivered to local people, who responded that local TV focused too often on problems. This insight into audience preferences helped to persuade skeptics in the newsroom to try constructive journalism.
STAFF TRAINING
Next, all staff at TV 2 Fyn took a short course in constructive journalism; this equipped them with a common language of aims, ideas and definitions.
Phase 2: Idea Development
DEFINING FORMATS
In a crucial step, TV 2 Fyn asked every employee to help draft the definition of constructive journalism and to help devise new formats. At weekly meetings, they discussed constructive journalism, developed ideas and identified constructive angles on selected stories.
INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES
Later, each editorial team formulated a constructive journalism ‘DNA’ and encouraged every member to craft their own approach.
Phase 3: Practice
CRAFTING A SERIES
Editors and reporters worked intensely as constructive journalists and were tasked with producing a constructive series for TV and online content. The aim was to give full ownership of constructive journalism to those who would practice it daily.
LEARNING BY DOING
At the same time, everyone soon gained practical experience and – most importantly – everyone reserved the right to fail.
AMBASSADOR TEAM
Following the initial changes, TV 2 Fyn maintained its new momentum by establishing an internal group of journalists, photographers, and graphic designers to act as ambassadors for constructive journalism in their respective editorial offices.
FORMAT DEVELOPMENT
Another group worked on formats, including for new live debates during the imminent elections.
‘Solved or Squeezed’
While brainstorming new formats that could be constructive — but still entertaining to watch — the team at TV 2 Fyn came up with this idea inspired by reality TV:
Put four politicians in a shrinking room and give them 20 minutes to solve a problem together.
Top Challenges
Each phase of change faced challenges. The most significant were:
Involvement and enthusiasm among general and specialist editors: These individuals had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility for turning constructive ideas into practical journalism, so keeping them onboard with the cultural changes was essential.
Maintaining goals: At TV 2 Fyn, visual symbols became essential for this and were prominently displayed in every workspace to remind journalists of their daily goals in constructive journalism. Symbols included the ‘SNIC constructive compass’ (see below) and the CDP narrative model. Ideally, these symbols would have featured earlier in TV 2 Fyn’s transformative process.
Resistance: This was quite fierce among traditional investigative journalists keen to hold the powerful to account. While we should never underestimate such resistance, we can help people become more open by presenting clear indicators, such as positive audience responses, that demonstrate the value of constructive journalism.
lessons learned
From the perspective of those who led the project at TV 2 Fyn, many of the key takeaways involve maintaining the big-picture focus while empowering staff to shape their own constructive approaches. Their guidance includes:
Define and set goals for the project.
Ask the key question: Why do we want to focus on constructive journalism? Discuss and share the answers with everyone in the organization.
Identify strong ambassadors to lead and maintain the changes.
Involve everyone in defining what constructive journalism means for the organization.
Let individual editors develop their own constructive ‘DNA’.
Maintain focus through regular editorial meetings, during idea development and in post-production critiques.
Set practical goals to produce constructive journalism.
Create or find symbols representing the cultural change and display them prominently in-house.
Find and communicate evidence of constructive journalism’s value.
Be persistent: Maintain a sharp focus on all points above.
a guiding symbol
Staff at TV 2 Fyn developed a set of values combined in one model: The Constructive Compass - SNIC.
The compass aims to guide journalists to a constructive starting point or angle for any story, by offering four options:
‘S’ suggests a solution-oriented starting point or angle.
‘N’ points to a nuanced overview of complex issues.
‘I’ stands for the involvement of citizens, stakeholders and those in power.
‘C’ is for critical inquiry, essential even in a constructive approach.
At TV 2 Fyn’s daily editorial meetings, the SNIC compass guides journalists as they develop story ideas. Some stories allow for all four directions to be explored, but often just two or three may suffice. The compass also helps journalists to develop ideas for larger projects, such as a themed series, where time and resources allow them to follow all four directions.
Journalists at TV 2 Fyn also worked together to formulate a definition of constructive journalism and it still features on prominent posters in the editorial office, along with the SNIC compass, to remind them every day that their media house now practices, cultivates and disseminates constructive journalism.
Adapted from “A Handbook for Constructive Journalism” (2022) by Kristina Lund Jørgensen & Jakob Risbro. Produced by the Constructive Institute and International Media Support (IMS).
GROUP EXERCISE
Which Angle to Pursue?
Finding the appropriate angle for a story can be difficult. To make this easier, first select stories that prioritize traditional news criteria, then describe which criterion dominates each story.
In a group discussion, ask:
When checking news, which stories do we prioritise?
Why do we prefer those kinds of stories?
What are the criteria for our choice?
What criteria are important to us?
Which angle do we choose?
For example, first select the latest statistics on a current issue such as employment for immigrants, wage negotiations, education, the labor market or something else entirely. Next, look closer at these stats and ask, as constructive journalists: What angles or angles might we apply to them? How might the SNIC compass guide this process?