Fight for Your Right to Smile
The journalism industry is built on delivering a message to an audience, and though the medium changes—broadcast, podcasts, print media—the purpose remains the same. Investigative journalism is one of the more common types of journalism, aiming to uncover information that serves the public interest. Topics such as politics, economic developments, and international affairs are often covered across media outlets. Investigative journalism is essential to this ecosystem, as it forces reporters to seek to find the truth and report it, hold authority figures accountable, and empower people to regain control.
Politics can be an overwhelming topic, which begs the question: while remaining politically educated is important, how do we avoid “news fatigue?” News fatigue is the exhaustion that comes with this overwhelming feeling, and the desire to lower one’s political engagement. A 2020 survey revealed that 66% of adults feel worn out by the amount of news available to them and are exhausted by the near-never-ending news cycle.
Where’s the balance between investigative journalism—which seeks to reveal the truth and holds those in power accountable, but can be demoralizing at times—and motivating people to continue their day? What happens to delivering the “good news” stories? Does every journalist have a moral obligation to focus their work towards investigation or hard news? Is there room to be a “fun” journalist?
Now, we’re seeing a movement toward constructive journalism, or journalism that “creates stories that are more productive, more forward-looking, more solution-focused,” as defined by Jill Suttie in her article “Why We Need Hopeful News.” While this is an emerging movement, more people casually refer to this genre as “community-driven journalism”. Community differs from the more sensational genres of journalism, such as those which cover entertainment, focus on updates in Hollywood and celebrity scandals, or recent events in pop culture, such as movie releases or viral memes. And, we’re seeing more and more of it.
Molette Green is a long-time broadcasting and leading anchor for NBC4 Washington’s In The Community segment, a program that focuses on uplifting the feel-good stories— everything from kids winning scholarships to high schools raising money for charity. As a previous investigative reporter, Green spoke about her career and the burden she carried throughout. She expressed that In The Community was a much-needed refresher.
“That was a break that I needed, because covering death and destruction and blood and guts, what I call it, where you cover drive-by shootings or deadly fires or just the worst of the worst case scenarios, that kind of gets to you after a while,” Green explains. “You are a human being, and it's sad. And I was taking the work home with me emotionally.”
Life is all about balance; it’s still important to cover the destruction and tragedy within the world. But Green emphasized that people must remain hopeful, saying, “How in the world are we going to be able to get up tomorrow morning if we don't know that there's hope?” People have to know that their struggles are not only seen, but that it’s not the end—tomorrow brings something new.
In our interview, Green spoke about the importance of recognizing the humanity that exists in the community. “You can't send people out the door to go to their jobs or welcome them home from work in the afternoons,” she expressed, “When they turn on the news and not give them what they want to see—that there's something good, at a kid got a scholarship, or that some miraculous thing happened. That there is hope in the world, locally, nationally, whatever, people want that.” The news is not just an outlet for understanding the national state of affairs, but a chance to bring a connection between local community members.
In May 2024, Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank that provides statistical reports on policy issues, released a study about feelings of community among United States citizens. Nationally, 46% of adults under 30 feel connected to other Americans. Additionally, only around 42% of adults under 30 feel close to people within their community. Pew also highlights the relationship between differing or similar political ideologies and weak or strong feelings of community. According to their research, at least three-quarters of Republicans, or those closely aligned with conservative ideologies, are more likely to feel closer to their communities compared to Democrats, or those more liberally leaning. As the United States continues to grow more politically polarized, journalists are left to find the stories that appeal to the humanity of both sides, rather than seeking political agreement.
NBC Washington D.C. TV Host Tommy McFly has worked on covering stories that bring people together. In an interview, McFly said that now is the perfect time to be working on delivering the good, positive news. He noted the oversaturation of rapidly changing political affairs, the fears of the new administration, and “negative news” in the media as major reasons.
“There's a hunger now out there for these things,” says McFly. The world is yearning for something good, and it’s the journalists’ responsibility to report information that’s in the best interest of the public.
Journalists can give the world balance, to give the public a reason to keep going. There’s power in conversation, as McFly explained: “I do think that there's something to finding the things that bring us together and putting those up in lights that could facilitate conversation and could facilitate finding common ground. Some things there is no finding common ground on, but there's a lot that there is, and local culture, community stories, can be a really great place to start.”
Local culture, stories, and news are the most obvious sources that can build communities up. However, there has been a rapid decline in public attention to local news. According to a 2024 study, 85% of Americans believe that local news outlets are somewhat important to their local community and well-being, while only 66% of Americans view local news outlets as essential to the impact of their community. Serving the community is more than ensuring that people remain politically educated. Local governments, the ruling at the town hall meeting, and public service announcements from the mayor’s office matter as well.
Tyler Davis, Business Report Fellow at The Current GA, spoke to GENZiNE about how journalists have a job to make local and federal news relevant to each other.
“All of the stories are completely driven,” they said, “even if you're covering the federal government, you are covering things that matter to people, whether it be politicians or whether it be the people that live in DC, or somebody that lives out in Western Oregon. All of the stories are community-driven because you're writing them for the people who are reading them.”
But readers and news-watchers aren’t looking for complete neutrality to foster community. A survey found that 29% of respondents oppose neutrality for local journalists, saying that local journalists should advocate for change in their community. While the federal government impacts the nation, local government impacts people’s daily lives. However, an extensive understanding and awareness of both are important for remaining civically involved. Larger networks are speaking to a general public audience, whereas local networks know their audience personally.
Journalists are in a unique position to provide insights on current events, but more importantly, journalists can bring in other perspectives and create a more diverse representation. 68% of Americans believe that local journalists are in touch with the struggles of their community.
“All of the coverage is community-driven because somebody in the community, or multiple people in the community, ask for this thing to be covered and ask for somebody to take a look at this. Then we went out and did it. It's all community-driven because that's who we do it for,” said Davis.
The United States was built by the people, but was it built for the people? Journalism is regarded as the fourth pillar of democracy because it demands that people utilize their freedom of speech rights to the fullest extent. Natalie Hopkinsons, Associate Professor of Media, Democracy & Society at American University, spoke to how community members—how real people—shape this culture.
“America is not what the president thought or said yesterday,” she told us. “America is what the people say, how the people feel, the way the people gather, the way that people celebrate, how they mark time, what their traditions are, and how they come together around.”
Following the recent presidential election, many are concerned that the United States is moving toward authoritarianism, a political system that prioritizes the centralization of power at the expense of individual opinions. Authoritarianism is dangerous for democratic nations because such political systems enforce restrictions on the expression of personal freedoms, like free speech. This is particularly dangerous for journalism because democracy is built on the expression of multiple ideas coming together to form the best-fitting decision, best enacted with an informed public.
Hopkinson affirms how journalists must continue to centralize community voices in these politically contentious moments and acknowledges how vital her work is to empowering the public to remain politically active and participate in the preservation of history and culture.
“The issues relate to us as human beings, so it doesn't always end up in Capitol Hill hearing or a press conference; or those are a very, very, very small and limited and disproportionately weighted voice in our democracy. I view my work as an intervention around that.”
Broadcasting anchor Molette Green further spoke to how the promise of democracy—free, uncensored expression is one of the great promises of the United States. It brings people together and allows them to discover new, previously unconsidered perspectives.
Green asserted that, “Being able to protest and being able to have a difference of opinion and free flowing of ideas and beliefs. That's what democracy is. Anytime you can show different people and their circumstances and their perspectives and how they're being helped is showing how democracy works.”
Journalism comes under attack when democracy comes under attack. And if democracy is under attack, people are under attack. People can lose faith in democracy, but they cannot lose their trust in journalists to give them the truth. We cannot go quietly into a dangerous and uncertain future. There is strength in numbers; hope for a better future will prevail if we all remain strong as a community and stand firm in our responsibilities to each other.
“I'm just hoping that America has some fight in it,” said Hopkinson.