Apply a Systems Lens To Your Journalism

These exercises are geared to help reporters and editors brainstorm creative ways to cover entrenched problems that don’t have easy fixes.

Use them to explore the systems at the heart of your reporting and expand the possibilities for your journalism.

You can use each exercise on its own, or run them in the sequence on this page—
by yourself or with your team.


HOW-TO-Guide

Not sure where to start? We’ve outlined a few different ways you can use these exercises in the How-To-Guide.

Collaborate Remotely

These exercises can be used in person or remotely. If you’re working remotely, we suggest using realtime collaborating tools  like Miro, Stormboard, or Cardsmith.

Exercises

  1. Visualize the systems in your reporting

  2. Create a guiding vision for your reporting

  3. Identify Key Stakeholders + Information Needs

  4. Map Your Story as a System

  5. Uncover patterns in your story

  6. Uncover Assumptions + Beliefs Driving the System

  7. Questions to ask + habits to build