Our Process
How do you solve a wicked problem?
You don’t.
The crisis of the free press is entangled with all the other problems democracies around the world face today.
This means that reductionist problem-solving strategies won’t work. Instead of trying to “solve” the problem, we need to imagine the systems we want, and then understand the conditions they would need to flourish.
There is never going to be a single fix; it’s a matter of nurturing and building.
PROJECT TIMELINE
Here’s what we’ve been doing and will be doing: Summer 2017 to Spring 2020.
Phase 1
Understanding the Big Picture
In 2017, we:
- Interviewed experts in journalism, media studies, history, law, sociology, technology, economics, complexity science, philosophy, and business;
- Conducted secondary-source research;
- Held small convenings of experts.
complete
Phase 2
Mapping the Problem Space
In late 2017 through 2018, we:
- Mapped the forces at play;
- Identified stakeholders;
- Surfaced interactions and connections between forces and stakeholders;
- Analyzed incentives and disincentives driving the system.
complete
Phase 3
Analyzing the Map
In 2019, we started asking ourselves:
- Why are these interactions happening?
- What are the critical failures?
- Who has power and why?
- What are the patterns of feedback?
- Where might there be opportunity for interventions?
- What are the paradoxes?
- What might be the logical conclusion if there are no interventions?
complete
Phase 4
Reassessing
Now, we’re asking:
- What’s changed since we started?
- What additional understandings do we need?
- What key structural problems have we identified?
in progress
Phase 5
Collecting Clues and Glimpses
We’re also asking our community:
- What might the free press look like in the future?
- What systems do we need to build to get us there?
- What have you seen that gives you a sense of where we’re heading?
- What happens if we don’t intervene?
pending
Phase 6
Interdisciplinary Convenings
Next, we’re bringing together a small group to imagine futures for the free press. Together, we will:
- Identify necessary conditions for a flourishing free press;
- Surface what we don’t know;
- Identify key stakeholders;
- Develop a framework for forward motion.
pending
Phase 7
Conclusion
In the last part of this phase we will:
- Ask where we might be wrong;
- Invite participants to “game” our theory;
- Identify (or try to identify) what we still don’t know;
- Develop next steps;
- Publish what we’ve learned so far.
pending
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore Sun journalists collaborate on a design-inspired challenge.
San Antonio, TX
Participants collaborate on a design and team-building exercise at our roundtable on housing affordability.
Durham, NC
Heather Chaplin works with journalists from the Durham Herald-Sun and Raleigh News & Observer to create a feedback loop about gentrification in their cities.
McKeesport, PA
Martha Rial, Project Manager of the McKeesport Community Newsroom, speaks to a room of residents at our community listening session.
Oakland, CA
Heather Chaplin facilitates a conversation on the Bay Area’s housing crisis. Photo credit: Garrick Wong, Renaissance Journalism.