Impact Journalism Day

Last week, Impact Journalism Day took place for the 6th time. Over 50 newspapers, TV & Radio Channels and blogs participated by writing and publishing stories about people and projects that are changing the world in a positive way. For once journalists focused on highlighting the positive side of life, portraying people that want to be the solution rather than the problem. Impact Journalism day was started by Sparknews, a French NGO which collaborated with several Impact Hubs for this special day.

In Switzerland, the Tagesanzeiger published a special dossier on the occasion featuring stories about women writing to obtain more rights in Afghanistan, menstruation cups as developmental aids in remote areas and a waste disposal driver collecting unused books in order to distribute them to libraries all over Colombia, amongst others.

Swiss TV station SRF dedicated their news program «10 vor 10» to the subject, focusing mainly on Swiss innovators. Here some examples: Gianmarco Marinello who trains former street children as tourist guides in Nairobi, or Agrarpiloten from Hellsau who fight pests by placing their natural enemies in the fields with the help of drones. A special focus was put on circular economy, featuring Recircle and Ässbar from Bern, and the Swisscom project Mobile Aid. All stories featured in the program were submitted by the audience.

La Tribune de Genève and 24 Heures have also published a dossier for Impact Journalism day featuring stories about a school in Paraguay teaching self-esteem and entrepreneurship or Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), a company from Geneva who started a project called EquiLibre, which is prioritizing employee happiness.  

Not only media from Switzerland participated, the Indian The Hindu featured stories from edible spoons to yoga for prisoners, The Irish Times featured a story on The Cup for the People, a more sustainable alternative to the FIFA World Cup, also taking place in Russia. Even AJ+ famous for its short and educational news videos on facebook created a video about a shower bus for homeless people in San Francisco.

To find out more and to read all stories, visit the Impact Journalism Website. www.impactjournalism.com

If you have a project that you feel should have been featured in this year’s Impact Journalism Day you can tell Sparknews about it: http://www.tellsparknews.com/project