A narrative solution: The relationship between solutions journalism, narrative transportation, and news trust

Abstract

Lack of trust is a paramount problem facing journalism. Solutions reporting, which focuses on credible responses to societal problems, could help improve news trust. In addition, narrative journalism has been associated with several positive outcomes. This study tested the novel idea that solutions stories and narrative transportation can positively impact news trust and story-specific beliefs. A 2 (story frame) × 3 (story topic) between-subjects factorial design experiment with a representative sample of US adults ( N = 608) was used to test these relationships. Participants who read solutions stories and who were more transported had greater faith that the articles they read were fair and truthful and also indicated greater agreement with story-specific beliefs. However, analyses indicated that transportation did not act as a mediator between solutions stories and the outcome variables. Findings suggest that crafting engaging journalism stories including solutions could be good for the industry and for democracy.

Mitigating the consequences of negative news: How constructive journalism enhances self-efficacy and news credibility

“…The finding that constructive news, as compared to negative news, increased credibility, suggests that the news industry's credibility crisis (Gallup, 2018) may be exacerbated by the news media's negative predisposition and that constructive journalism may provide a means for newsrooms to restore their credibility. This finding adds to the literature on constructive journalism, which has found conflicting results regarding its impact on credibility (Meier, 2018;Thier et al, 2019). Besides showing that constructive journalism can bolster credibility, the current study provides a causal explanation, suggesting the process is driven by positive affect.…”

“…So far, the evidence is mixed. In a recent experiment, subjects exposed to a solutions-based news story perceived it as more credible than those exposed to a similar but problem-based version (Thier et al, 2019). Another experiment, however, found that subjects who read a constructive news story were more inclined to feel that it contained hidden advertising than those who read a non-constructive version of the story (Meier, 2018).…”

Perspectives from Journalism Professionals on the Application and Benefits of Constructive Reporting for Addressing Misinformation

“…While participants, alongside proponents of constructive journalism, considered the approach to increase trust, relatively little research has investigated these claims. Their et al (2019) found solutions journalism to increase trust under experimental conditions, however, further empirical work is warranted. As news media contributes to trust across multiple aspects of society, future research could investigate trust at multiple levels, including in content, producers, institutions, democratic processes, and fellow citizens.…”

Evaluating the effects of solutions and constructive journalism: A systematic review of audience-focused research

“…One point worth mentioning is that of the 22 experiments in this study, only one measured trust as an outcome variable. Thier et al (2021) found that participants were more likely to trust a solution-oriented story than a problem-oriented story. Proponents of solution and constructive reporting often mention trust as an important outcome (e.g., Anwar, 2020), and trust is a well-studied measure for general journalism studies (e.g., Henke et al, 2020), so we were surprised to see it measured so little in this corpus.…”