COJO for COVID recovery: Solutions-focused constructive journalism as a pandemic exit strategy for local/regional UK communities

This project uses COVID-19 as the research situation to investigate - through a UK-wide rollout - the potential power of the novel genre of solutions-focused constructive journalism (known as COJO) in helping local/regional communities to deal with unprecedented challenges. As the public emerges out of the lockdown to face a painful and uncertain struggle to exit from the pandemic, they will need to be informed, inspired and empowered to respond to social problems in a forward-looking manner. As a rigorous evidence-based reporting framework and toolkit that shifts the focus from what is the problem to what is the solution, COJO - also called solutions journalism (SOJO) - holds a strong potential to serve that acute cause. Gathering Bournemouth University, the Association of British Science Writers, the Solutions Journalism Network and Newsquest, this project investigates the extent to which and the way in which COJO can help the UK public to transition to the "new normal". It entails three major activities over 18 months: (a) investigate what a pandemic-wounded public expects the media, especially local news, to do to help them out of the crisis in an informed, inspired and forward-looking manner; (b) use the findings and insights from the first phase to develop and deliver a learning-by-doing campaign in which local news titles across the UK produce constructive journalism on COVID-19 solutions; and (c) evaluate the overall values of constructive journalism for both the news industry and the public during the exit and their implications for news coverage of future epidemics/pandemics and crises.