Director General of the NGO "Reporters of Hope", Gilles Vanderpooten publishes "Imagine the world of tomorrow", a book on the positive role that the media can play.
Invited Monday by "Culture Médias", he explains what solutions journalism consists of and why he is enjoying increasing success in the editorial staff of the mainstream media.
INTERVIEW
"No longer only to identify the problem, but also to investigate the solutions that can be brought".
This is how Gilles Vanderpooten, director general of the NGO "Reporters of Hope", defines solutions journalism.
A practice that is gaining more and more ground in the major national media.
Gilles Vanderpooten explains why, Monday at the microphone of Philippe Vandel in
Culture Médias
.
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The success of this type of journalism is obvious.
Monday, TF1 and France 2 are launching their new news at 1 pm, and each has its solution section, "The good idea" for the front page, "An idea for France" for the public channel.
But we can also cite
SOS Villages
on TF1,
We have the solution
on France 2,
France moves
on Europe 1, the media Brut, the magazine We Demain, the
Feelgood
newsletter
of
Liberation as
well as its
Le Libé des solutions issue
.
Gilles Vanderpooten thus counts in his book 70 newspapers, programs, columns or columns of journalism of solutions.
New interest from journalists
According to Gilles Vanderpooten, after several years of mistrust, in particular because of the "risk of falling into communication", journalists have understood the interest of this type of investigation.
"We have shown with certain experiments that this could be serious journalism on credible initiatives," he explains.
"Journalists told us 'For me, it increases the meaning of what I do. It allows me to diversify my angles and my subjects, by asking me what is happening now that the problem is posed'", adds Gilles Vanderpooten.
A request from the public
The interest of journalists is also driven by the changing expectations of their readers and viewers.
"When you asked the French 20 years ago, 80% told you that the role of journalism is to talk about bad news. Today, in the large France Télévisions survey" My TV, my radio, tomorrow ", 82% people are asking for positive initiatives. So it was completely reversed ", he notes.
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The loss of usefulness of continuous info?
For Gilles Vanderpooten, all this shows an evolution in the usefulness of certain types of information compared to others.
"I think it is positive, in the sense that it can enrich the editorial lines. It can bring a complementary utility today. Finding new angles, finding new subjects, it is to bring an added value", estimates he does.
"What is the perceived usefulness of hot news as it is delivered in news flash?" Asks Gilles Vanderpooten.
"It is less and less obvious."
A final explanatory key which remains to be qualified, in view of the very good audiences of continuous news channels.