Raising the most expensive piece of audio equipment I had ever held 6 feet above the concrete on the street below with shaky, sweaty hands, I attempted to capture the audio of the climate change protest participants chanting around me.
My first journalism assignment. Ever. I threw myself into the field of journalism headfirst, strapped with a canon digital camera, recording device, and headphones on a 95 degree day. I was a wide-eyed high school sophomore with no idea of how deeply I would become invested in my responsibility and commitment to the wellbeing of society. I was, to put it bluntly, detached.
Psychological science is fundamental in the fight to get honest, informative, and productive news on the forefront of online circulation. More specifically, positive psychology can aid in the dissemination of news for the greater good: an approach to media that involves solution-oriented reporters thinking critically about the way that human minds work. Positive psychology is defined in the American Psychological Association’s dictionary of psychology as “a field of psychological theory and research that focuses on the psychological states, individual traits or character strengths, and social institutions that enhance subjective well-being and make life most worth living” (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.). The principles that positive psychology is founded on is the perfect prompt to begin to integrate psychology into fields like media production.
In 2017, Karen McIntyre and Cathrine Gyldensted published an article in The Journal of Media Innovations that contained a thorough explanation and analysis of a concept called “Constructive Journalism.” Built on the principles of positive psychology, constructive journalism (much like civic journalism) focuses significantly more on the critical role of the reporter as someone that has a responsibility to evaluate situations rather than the intense need for objectivity and detachment (McIntyre & Gyldensted, 2017, 22).
Weighed down with two bags full of supplies, an aspiring 15-year-old me went into the battleground of journalism for the first time with nothing to build my values as a reporter on. Something about the thrill of being out in the action can influence a person to chase the conflict, a situation that many reporters find themselves in unknowlingly. Being detached from the situation could help objectivity and increase the credibility of a journalist, but a more likely outcome is that it will lead to compassion fatigue, which should be a terrifying concept to any public servant that values their obligation to the communities they serve (McIntyre & Gyldensted, 2017, 22).
While stories about tragedy are necessary, and coverage of news and politics that may evoke negative emotions are essential to societal growth, psychological techniques can be applied to influence readers in the direction of progress rather than plunging them into a slump of hopelessness. There are four “branches” of constructive journalism that all rely on different types of psychological evaluation of a situation: Peace journalism, restorative journalism, prospective journalism, and solutions journalism.
Peace journalism focuses on the evaluation of emotions, and requires the reporter to make decisions about what and who to report on that will encourage non-violent responses to conflict. Journalists and editors alike must have a deepened understanding of the way that the minds of world leaders and revolutionaries work.
Restorative journalism, similar to solutions journalism, focuses on the aftermath of a situation and the restoration efforts leading toward a better future, rather than the tragic event itself.
Prospective journalism focuses on the future, and interviewers must think deeply about the nature of the questions that they’re asking their sources. Instead of asking questions about what has happened, encourage the source to explain and evaluate what they think might happen. The idea is that goal-based behaviour is more effective than habit-based behaviour (McIntyre & Gyldensted, 2017, 25).
Solutions journalism is exactly what it sounds like, a type of journalism where reporters seek stories in which people are solving their issues and report on the response to problems.
These four types of constructive journalism all utilise the principles of positive psychology to decide what will be received in the most progressive and healthy way by the public. Essentially, they are acting on scientifically proven ways of bettering societal morale.
So, my question is very similar to what McIntyre and Gyldensted propose in their article: why don’t journalists base their values and ethical guidance on scientifically-based, solution-oriented psychology? It not only gives journalists a well-rounded perspective on human behaviour, but it also provides an ethical roadmap from which they can base many of their moral decisions as a reporter.
If we are to deepen our understanding of society and human beings as whole, journalists need to be willing to open themselves up to scientific concepts that will help them do so. Psychology is the human part of human interest stories, the politics part of political commentary, the reason that photojournalists know when to snap an emotional picture, the way that a documentarian knows what questions to ask their interviewees. Psychology doesn’t just have its place in journalism, it has potential to be the entire foundation of it.
References:
APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/positive-psychology
McIntyre, K., & Gyldensted, C. (2017). Constructive Journalism: An Introduction and Practical Guide for Applying Positive Psychology Techniques to News Production. The Journal of Media Innovations, 4(2), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.5617/jomi.v4i2.2403
Comments