The World Press Photo Foundation is proud to present the six stories commissioned by the Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative, supporting visual storytellers to produce stories with a solutions focus. The initiative is a partnership between the World Press Photo Foundation,
MIAP, the Message in a Photo foundation, and the
Solutions Journalism Network.
The six projects are the product of rigorous reporting on a response to a problem. They address the topic of universal basic income in Germany, look into a community working to restore the Gulf of California’s ecosystem, explore co-living arrangements in the Netherlands, examine renewable alternatives to Nigeria’s unstable electric infrastructure, delve into the Punan Adiu indigenous community’s regain of ownership and management of customary land in Indonesia, and document community support for LGBTQ+ migrants and mothers traveling alone with children at the Tijuana-San Diego border.
About the Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative
The Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative is a joint project by the World Press Photo Foundation, the Message in a Photo Foundation (
MIAP) and the
Solutions Journalism Network to promote and produce visual journalism with a solutions focus.
The Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative (SVJI) has three objectives:
- Develop what a solutions focus means for visual journalism
- Commission, fund, and publish a small number of solutions stories
- Use these new stories to educate both the profession and engage the public on the benefits of a solutions focus in visual journalism
Developing what a solutions focus means for visual journalism
The SVJI wants to support a new perspective in visual journalism. Solutions journalism changes the frame of the story to address
“the negativity bias” in the media. Rather than focusing only on problems, solutions journalism looks for where people are already taking action to deal with difficult issues. A solutions story is the product of rigorous reporting on a response to a problem.
Commissioning, supporting, and publishing solutions stories
A call for a diverse group of visual journalists to produce original, high-quality stories was made in 2019. The SVJI provided a small budget for each chosen visual journalist to produce their story, and encouraged stories that can reach global audiences, especially younger audiences, through multiple channels and platforms. In late 2019 six stories to commission were selected, and details of both the stories and the visual journalists were announced in 2020.
Educating both the profession and engage the public on the benefits of a solutions focus in visual journalism
The new work enabled by the SVJI will be used by the World Press Photo Foundation, MIAP, and the Solutions Journalism Network in their education, debate, and publication programs around the world to show other visual journalists the benefits of a solutions focus in visual journalism.
