Saturday 3 August 2019 The Guardian •49
Inside the GuardianMark Rice-OxleyJ
ournalists do what they do
for lots of reasons. Some are
natural storytellers, gossips
even; others get a kick out
of unsettling the mighty.
Some simply want to fi nd
things out to satisfy their natural
curiosity.
Most want to think their work has
real-world impact, though I must
confess that an awful lot of things
I have written over the years have
passed through this world without
touching the sides.
Usually it is the investigative
types, the diggers and undercover
reporters whose revelations lead
to the biggest change , a minister
toppled or a policy reversed.
But not always. One of the many
joys of editing the Guardian’s Upside
series – optimistic journalism that
focuses on solutions, initiatives,
innovations, people making a
diff erence – is that it often ripples
back out into the world it reported
on, inspiring readers to take action,
generating change for the better.
For me, this is urgently needed
in a world where a surfeit of dismal
news is demoralising audiences as
never before. We surely won’t fi x the
world if we keep on telling people
that everything is rotten, hopeless,
unfi xable.
While we have a duty to inform
and educate society on where we are
going wrong, we feel it is only proper
we should point out where it is going
right too. When we do, when we
show what is possible, it can have a
powerful virtuous eff ect on the lives
of the people we write about.
For example, earlier this year, weabout the Green Ukhiya Star Team in
The Upside,” wrote Beverley Colgan
recently, referring to a little known
Bangladeshi group planting 1m trees
in the country’s south-east. “I went
to their Facebook page but it had no
big, obvious ‘contribute’ button.”
We put Beverley in touch with the
tree planters.
Readers come up with great
solutions, too. When we asked
what people were doing to cut
their carbon, we had hundreds
of responses. The innovative
things individuals are doing in a
dozen countries around the world
prompted more readers to write in
and commit to fl ying less, cycling
more or eating less meat.
The media must recognise it
shapes the world we live in, as well
as refl ecting it. Hyperbolic coverage
of terrorists and school shooters
and people who take their own lives
will encourage copycats. Hysterical
coverage of populism, recession and
mental illness risk turning into self-
fulfi lling prophecy.
But the same is true of optimism.
Writing about inspiring characters –
environmentalists , health workers ,
inventors and unsung heroes – will
encourage more young people to
follow in their footsteps.
When we report progress, more
progress ensues. What better way to
change the world?The Upside series
Reporting on unsung
heroes gives us a
rare chance to shape
the world we live in
published the story of a group of
Yazidi women who set up a female-
only community in Syria as a safe
space from the violence and abuse
they had faced at the hands of Isis.
Within hours, emails were
pouring in from readers asking how
they could support the community.
We put them in touch with
community leaders, so they could
fi gure out how best to send money.
One reader, Gill Whittaker, said the
aim was “to do something together
... Thus a more certain ‘upside’
outcome may be achieved”.
Another example: last year we
wrote about the Remakery , a cafe
in Edinburgh that fi xes your broken
appliances while you wait. Almost
100,000 people shared the article on
social media and people around the
world got in touch with the owner,
Sophie Unwin, asking how they
could set up a franchise in their city.
“As a result of the piece I had more
inquiries from across the UK and
also internationally ,” Unwin told us.
“Some people directly referenced
the Guardian feature and said they
found it inspiring.
“We’ve received other funding
and are in conversation with other
potential partners. The article also
helped raise the wider agenda , as
evidenced by news like Ikea’s work
on the circular economy. Repair
culture is moving more into the
mainstream, which has always been
one of the aims of this work.”
When we wrote about an obscure
cleric who drives around Iran’s
poorest province bringing books
to children, enough people weretouched to club together and buy
him a new car for his rounds.
“This was a particularly cheering
and hopeful piece in a climate of
nastiness and Brexit tedium,” wrote
Paul MacGowan. “ Could you let me
know if it’s possible for me to send
donations to support his work?”
A piece about paint recycling
prompted no end of tips ( and jokes )
from readers. An article about an
African environmentalist generatedoff ers of legal support and a UN
promise to champion her case.
A focus on tree-planting in Niger
brought inquiries from farmers
in southern Africa. Best practice
doesn’t always spread itself.
The Upside has sought to
deepen this connection between
readers and subjects through a
weekly newsletter , which attracts
a prodigious digital mail bag each
week. We continuously encourage
our 30,000 subscribers to get in
touch with alternatives, ideas and
suggestions. When they do, others
can be moved to get involved.
“One of the pleasures was reading▲ Souley Cheibou, a farmer, admires
a gao tree. A focus on tree-planting in
Niger prompted inquiries from afar
PHOTOGRAPH RUTH MACLEAN/THE GUARDIAN▲ Repair culture was brought to
the forefront by our report on the
Remakery cafe in Edinburgh
PHOTOGRAPH: KATHERINE ROSE/THE GUARDIAN Emails poured
in from readers
asking how they
could support
the female-only
community set
up by Yazidi
women
PHOTOGRAPH:
BETHAN MCKERNAN/
THE GUARDIAN▼ Readers
clubbed
together to buy
a car for Esmail
Azarinejad, a
travelling cleric
who supplies
books to children
in some of Iran’s
most remote
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