A strange thing happens when you write about something going right. People take notice. They read to the end. They share it with their friends. They create rare pools of wellbeing on social media. They write to thank you.
Eighteen months ago, the Guardian launched a pilot project to see how readers would respond if we deliberately sought out the good things happening in the world.
More than 150 pieces of journalism later – in which we have examined the relative merits of everything from dog turds to ketamine, the blockchain to microhouses, and gardening to exoskeletons – we have proof of concept.
Reader numbers for this kind of journalism are on average almost 10% higher than for comparable general news pieces, our data shows. It also shows that almost one in 10 readers share the story on social media.
News doesn’t have to be bad. The planet is complex. Away from the horror and conflict, the shouting and the skulduggery, away from the tragedy, disaster and zero-sum misanthropy, there is a wide world of answers and improvements, of win-win and mutual support, of selflessness and curiosity, of movements and innovations.
And when you write about it, people tend to respond positively. They do so because while audiences have always been riveted by bad news (it serves as both an early warning system and a reassurance about the comfort of their own lives), they are tired of the avalanche of awfulness. They are switching off.
That is a bad thing. If people just shrug at news because they feel there is little they can do, nothing will change.
Journalists in the US, Europe and the UK are waking up to this by publishing what is variously described as constructive journalism, solutions journalism or, somewhat misleadingly, positive news.
This does not mean the Guardian will reduce our efforts to uncover wrongdoing, to hold the powerful to account. It does means that, in addition, we will be looking for pioneers, trailblazers, best practice, unsung heroes, ideas that work, ideas that might, innovations whose time might have come.
As our editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, promised in a speech on the future of the Guardian recently, “we will develop ideas that help improve the world, not just critique it. Despair is just another form of denial. People long to feel hopeful again – and young people, especially, yearn to feel the hope that previous generations once had.”
That is why the Guardian is deepening its commitment to this work.
It is something our readers consistently ask for. “Please try to cover good news stories more regularly,” wrote Steve Miall, a Guardian supporter, in response to a request for readers to tell us what they want us to cover in 2018. “Human success stories make super copy,” Carol Warner added.
“Recently I have been thinking about the psychological aspect of being bombarded by negative news stories and although they are important I feel that without optimistic news stories to contrast them you leave readers feeling punch-drunk and depressed about the world,” Simon Taylor wrote last summer.
“I understand there are some positive news stories on the Guardian site but it would be brilliant to have a dedicated section for moments of ‘oh god show me something to be happy about!’”
Perhaps curious is a better word than happy. Not everything we cover will necessarily change the world for the better, but it will offer the promise of doing so.
There are some ground rules. We won’t jump at every piece of puff and PR that comes our way. We will set a high bar, looking for things that appear replicable, robust and confront the big challenges of our times – the environment, health (particularly mental), atomised communities, flagging democracy, gender discrimination and technology.
We will attempt to find the communities trying to solve some of these problems and, ideally, this will take us to places we rarely visit, broadening our reach and our understanding.
And we are encouraging readers to take part. Let us know what you want to see from this series, where you see the hope. What are the ideas that, with a little bit of mainstreaming, could bring us turning points?
If you’re having trouble using the form, click here.
