In a hyperpolarized country, where audiences are increasingly avoiding the news, can journalism about politics and controversy be surprising, healthy for democracy and compelling?
This special webinar will explore a Good Conflict approach to covering politics and controversy. We will explain the basics of Good Conflict journalism and highlight one specific storytelling strategy. We will then watch and dissect one particular video news story (about a surprising small-town election) that was developed using this strategy.
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ujO2F73FZk0
We will discuss what worked and what didn’t work and how to translate this approach for a print, radio, or commercial TV news story. Then participants will workshop ways they could apply similar techniques to stories they are working on.
This session will be recorded.
Instructors: Hélène Biandudi Hofer and Amanda Ripley, co-founders of Good Conflict
About Good Conflict: Journalists Hélène and Amanda started Good Conflict to help people tell more interesting stories and have smarter fights. Previously, Amanda and Hélène worked with the Solutions Journalism Network to develop the Complicating the Narratives essay and workshop. Hélène is a documentary filmmaker and journalist who has worked with CBS, NPR, and PBS and trained more than a thousand journalists across 125 newsrooms throughout the world. Amanda is the author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped–and How We Get Out and a journalist who has worked for Time Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post.
This webinar is presented by the Advancing Democracy initiative, which supports journalists working at the intersection of trust, engagement and solutions journalism to reimagine how they cover politics, elections and government. The initiative is led by the Solutions Journalism Network in partnership with Hearken and Trusting News. To learn more about Advancing Democracy, visit https://advancing-democracy.org.