Finding Solutions, Not Problems

On Tuesday, January 21, students and faculty gathered in Waldo Auditorium to hear from journalist Shia Levitt who introduced the community to the concept of Solutions Journalism. As part of Dana Hall’s recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Director of Community, Equity and Inclusion Rachel Nagler framed the conversation in the context of the Civil Right Movement, and shared historical examples of how the news media of the time (radio, print and television) helped to elevate national awareness of Dr. King and events taking place across the country in the 1950s and 60s.

During her interactive presentation, Levitt defined Solutions Journalism as rigorous, evidence-based reporting on responses to social problems. Currently, Levitt is the director of News Ambassadors, a project that links student reporters in one location with counterparts in a politically or geographically dissimilar location for collaborative solutions reporting. By focusing on the things a community is doing right using Solutions Journalism, "journalists can move from being a watchdog to a guide dog,” Levitt said.

As a public radio journalist, Levitt has reported for NPR, Marketplace and other outlets from the U.S., Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In 2022, she was a news editor at KALW and mentor for their Audio Academy Fellows program. In addition to reporting and producing, Levitt has taught radio journalism both at the college level and to teens, including for WNYC’s Radio Rookies, for UNICEF in Haiti, and at Mills College, Brooklyn College and Queens College. She was also a 2023-24 Complicating the Narratives Fellow with Solutions Journalism Network.

Later that morning, Levitt visited Dr. Keely’s Journalism class where she met with student journalists and shared her career path, why students should pursue journalism and gave examples of interview techniques, specifically for covering contentious issues. When people are in intense conflict, she said, “they need to first feel heard and not threatened before they can be curious about the other side’s perspective.”

In bringing Levitt to campus, Nagler wanted students to be able to define the questions, what do we need and demand from the media — and journalists specifically — and how do stories get told and shared?

“The goal was to bridge what role journalists play in today’s landscape, and how to engage in ways that support a healthy democracy,” Nagler said. “Dr. King’s legacy of using media as a tool has become more complex and democratized with advent of the internet, so this Flex Block was to honor the path he paved while gaining the necessary contemporary tools and mindset to achieve his vision in the present.”