What I learned on the progress beat
It felt like searching for a piece of hay in a pile of needles. For every hint of progress, I encountered at least 30 distressing headlines.
It felt like searching for a piece of hay in a pile of needles. For every hint of progress, I encountered at least 30 distressing headlines.
It was June 2020. COVID-19, economic turmoil, and police brutality dominated the news. Articles about combating 鈥渘ews fatigue鈥� or 鈥渕edia burnout鈥� punctuated long bouts of doomscrolling. The New York Times declared, 鈥淥n the Future, Americans Can Agree, It Doesn鈥檛 Look Good.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 exactly an auspicious time to take on the progress beat.
And yet, my assignment was clear: As the Monitor鈥檚 Points of Progress reporter, I needed to identify a handful of credible progress stories every week.
It felt like searching for a piece of hay in a pile of needles. For every hint of progress, I encountered at least 30 distressing headlines. It was hard to accept that those glimmers of growth could hold much weight in the midst of such overwhelmingly grim news. But over time, I began to recognize them as fuel for hope.聽
I quickly learned to spot the telltale signs of progress 鈥� and that 鈥減erfect progress鈥� doesn鈥檛 exist. So much is subjective, contentious, fragile, or incremental. The march toward progress rarely comes in giant leaps. But each step 鈥� even the false starts 鈥� can help build forward momentum.聽
There鈥檚 no doubt that this news matters. More than half of Americans say the news causes them anxiety, exhaustion, or sleep loss, according to a pre-pandemic survey by the American Psychological Association. Stories that touch on potential solutions to the world鈥檚 problems, however, have an empowering effect on audiences that can counter those trends, according to a study by the Solutions Journalism Network 鈥� a critical resource in my search for progress points.
It鈥檚 not about turning a blind eye to hardship 鈥� it鈥檚 about making sure we don鈥檛 let it obscure our sense of reality.
As we turn the corner to 2022, many of the struggles of the past year loom large in our memories. And yet we found 257 signs of progress worth highlighting in 2021, pulled from more than 120 different sources and hundreds of articles. This week鈥檚 feature highlights key themes that recurred throughout the year. Which brings me to my biggest takeaway from my 18 months on the progress beat: There鈥檚 always a reason for hope, if you look for it.聽