Starting Thursday, solutions to a variety of problems newsrooms face will come right to your inbox, if you subscribe, of course.
Solution Set is a new newsletter from the Lenfest Institute and the Solutions Journalism Network. (Disclosure: Poynter gets funding from Lenfest.) Its author, Joseph Lichterman, will take on one issue each week. The newsletter includes a quick way to see what's inside, including the challenge, strategy, numbers, lessons and what's next.
The name itself is a term used in math, he said, and is a possible list of solutions to an equation.
"Basically we want it to be lessons, best practices, strategies that news organizations can learn from and apply in their own organizations," Lichterman said.
Lichterman hopes the newsletter will offer practical advice each week that people can save or Slack and use, like a playbook for what's working for newsrooms now. He isn't trying to recreate other coverage that's already out there, he said, but plans to link generously and offer a place to showcase other resources. And he won't just focus on big projects, either, he said, but on small projects, such as how newsrooms are using Facebook groups.
Solution Set starts with a look at Texas' The Tyler Loop and a creative way it has worked to bring people together. Other topics, Lichterman said, will include how to engage audiences, ways to make money, new product development and newsroom culture, "all these things that come together and are part of the ways that news organizations either need to transition themselves to be viable in this digital era, or if you’re a startup, these are the things you need to be mindful of."
