Are you looking for a new, fresh way to cover your community’s chronic problems? Do you want to meaningfully engage your audiences and hold politicians accountable by asking and answering the question, “Who is doing it better?” Then the Building Democracy Fellowship may be for you.
The Solutions Journalism Network is seeking 15 U.S.-based newsrooms that are up to the challenge of rethinking how and why they cover government and democracy, expanding the vital coverage of what’s going wrong with newsworthy stories highlighting efforts that are going right, and what communities can learn from them. Selected newsrooms will commit at least one reporter and editor to this project and will receive a grant of $10,000 and nine months of training, resources and coaching to integrate solutions journalism into their existing government reporting. Each month, participants will spend about 13 hours on this project, three hours in trainings and workshops and roughly 10 additional hours of independent work.
The deadline to apply is July 31. The fellowship that will run from September to June 2025. We will break from Oct. 22 to Nov 19 due to the election, and will monitor developments and adjust programming as necessary to accommodate the need to cover issues that arise before or after that.
We’re very interested in news organizations that want to cover the government’s large and important infrastructure investments through a solutions lens. We are also particularly interested in newsrooms that serve communities where civic participation is low, as shown (as a proxy) by low voter participation. We’ll give preference to newsrooms that fit either or both of those categories, but don’t let that stop you from applying. Previous solutions journalism training is not a requirement for this fellowship. However, newsrooms that have previously participated in SJN fellowships including Advancing Democracy, Democracy SOS or Renewing Democracy are strongly encouraged to apply.
Our audiences are telling us they want something different when it comes to how the media covers government. One survey, for example, found that just one in four Americans say they are satisfied with political coverage. What they want, the results suggest, is more reporting that holds politicians accountable for solving the biggest problems in their communities, including reporting on promising practices that are working elsewhere.
That’s just what solutions journalism is about – rigorous reporting on responses to social problems. In other words, it is a tool for journalists to help their communities improve, complementing vital coverage of government ineffectiveness with stories that examine what some governments are doing well.
You can register for our “Ask Me Anything” on July 29 at 12pm ET to learn more about the fellowship.
We also have an FAQ with more information about the fellowship, and if you have any additional questions please contact: jaisal@solutionsjournalism.org.
Again, the deadline for applications is July 31, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET, and, this fellowship is only open to US-based newsrooms teams consisting of at least one editor and reporter that can commit to attending three hours of training and 10 hours of independent work a month.
APPLICATION:
We expect that this application will take approximately 45-60 minutes to complete. You can save a draft of the application as you fill it out.
NOTE: To save your form before completing/submitting it, enter your email address and password, check the "save my progress and resume later" checkbox, and click SUBMIT. Your form will not be submitted, it will be saved, and you will be able to return to it at a later date. Once the "save my progress and resume later" checkbox is UNCHECKED, you can click SUBMIT for final submission of your application.
**Please note that unlike some other SJN programs, freelancers are NOT eligible to apply for the Building Democracy fellowship. You must select “news organization” and apply as a newsroom.**