Appealing to News Audiences or News Funders? An Empirical Analysis of the Solutions Journalism Network's Revenue Project

Many newsrooms have begun pursuing "solutions journalism," which is defined as a rigorous journalistic method that reports on evidence-based responses to societal problems. What remains to be seen, however, is whether this approach to news production results in more revenue for news organizations. This study seeks to investigate this issue by examining an effort by the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) to help 12 newsrooms across the United States develop revenue streams derived from solutions journalism approaches to news production. We find that journalists face enormous-perhaps insurmountable-challenges when it comes to evaluating the impact of their efforts to strengthen their relationships with their audiences and ultimately grow more revenue via audience support. Yet, journalists remain committed to solutions journalism despite these obstacles, both because they find it compelling and because of its potential for revenue in the form of foundation funding. We conclude that as foundations play an increasingly powerful role in the business of news production, journalism funders' imagined news audiences have become just as important for journalism scholars to consider as the imagined audiences of journalists themselves.