Ulrik Haagerup, founder and CEO of the Constructive Institute in Denmark, has been working in journalism since he was 13 years old.

Well into his adult career, he quit.

“I went into the new business and wanted to do good for society,” he told attendees at the recent INMA Media Innovation Week in Antwerp, Belgium. “I realised I was doing good for the numbers. It was not good for society. So I quit and started this NGO.”

Constructive news is good for the industry

“The industry is in trouble, but it is possible to change,” Haagerup said. “This is a defining moment. You will tell your grandchildren about 2022 and 2021, years we learned we can’t take democracy for granted. The moment the press stopped being responsible, democracy erodes.”

Haagerup discussed the United States, Russia, and other areas around the world where “polarisation is the next pandemic.”

Why?

“Because people now don’t trust anything. They have their own version of reality because they either watch CNN where there is no criticism of immigration policies or they watch Fox News where they only talk about the weather and they never talk about climate change.

“The press has forgotten why it’s there. It is becoming the product. Journalism is so much more than a product, and if you forget that, democracy erodes. That’s what I see in many countries.”

Journalism has become part of the problem, Haagerup said, when it instead needs to become part of the solution.

Three pillars of constructive journalism

Haagerup shared the three pillars of constructive journalism:

1. A focus on solutions.
2. Covers nuances.
3. Promotes democratic conservation.

He used the COVID pandemic as an example:

“If we only counted the dead people, as we did in the beginning, people would think we’re all going to die. We had to tell the stories about people getting better. During COVID, we understood we had a job to do — go between the public their needs plus talk to experts and decision-makers. That was the role. Why have we stopped doing that? We should be doing that all the time.”

News avoidance

“News avoidance is the biggest challenge we have,” Haagerup said. “We have a possible way to counter it.”

That way is to do different kinds of journalism.

Research shows people want positive news (55%), solutions (46%), explainers (39%) and news about people like them (38%).

Three things to do

Haagerup recommended those in the audience do three things upon returning to their companies:

1. Go to the newsroom and ask journalists and editors a few questions: Do you think readers want more news? Faster news? More information? (The answer is no, he is certain.)
2. In their media company’s leadership group, ask: What is the brand promise they want to give people?
3. Look at their marketing campaigns to see if they reflect the above-mentioned brand promise. Answer questions like: What should readers think about you? Why should they spend time with you? What can they get from you that they can’t get anywhere else?

 “You should focus all your energy on that.”

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