The Constructive Institute has appointed acclaimed Australian journalist Stan Grant as the inaugural director of its Asia-Pacific hub, opening at Monash University next year.

So what is this Denmark-based institute — and why is it pushing for a universal constructive editorial approach?

Aiming to steer away from the negative narratives created by traditional news reporting, the institute focuses on a solutions-based, constructive approach to news reporting.

Danish investigative journalist Ulrik Haagerup founded the institute in 2017 with a view to reintroducing the world to news media, using a conversational and nuanced approach.

The institute promotes this way of reporting as the way forward in getting the public — especially young people — interacting with the news.

Jesper Himmelstrup, head of the Youth and Democracy Project at the institute, says mainstream news media output has become so disengaged with democracy that it is polarising the way we understand the world.

“Journalism is the filter between reality and people’s perception of reality,” Himmelstrup says, and the institute believes that traditional news reporting has failed the public.

“Young people don’t want it anymore,” he says. They want the truth and there is a “strong feeling that we need to tell new narratives”, he says.

“Constructive journalism is journalism as it should have always been: it is covering as much of the truth as possible.”

With more than 20 years of experience in journalism, Himmelstrup says the future of constructive journalism lies in the hands of the next generation of reporters.

"There is something growing; there is a glimpse in the eyes of students when [we] talk about constructive journalism,” he says.

“Our global ambition was to change the news culture in the world and sometimes you need crazy people saying crazy things, otherwise things would never be done.”

Himmelstrup says the institute is “delighted" that Grant, who has been appointed as a professor at Monash, will be the new director of its Asia-Pacific hub.

The sentiment is shared by the Head of Journalism at Monash University, Associate Professor Johan Lidberg, who says “the timing couldn’t have been any better” for Grant to join the School of Media, Film and Journalism, based at Caulfield Campus.

He says Monash uses “integrated, solutions-based learning” in its journalism and media units, and he believes Grant’s appointment will “contribute something meaningful in how journalism is taught and perceived”.

“Seldom high-profile appointments are available at such great timing,” Lidberg says.

The industry experience that Grant brings to Monash will help future journalists discover the importance of constructive journalism, Lidberg says, creating a “powerful way of rebuilding trust with [the] public”.

“It’s not about good news; it can be a part of it, but a constructive approach will be more useful when reporting on the hard topics,” he says. Constructive journalism will “point towards a possible solution”. 

Monash is among the many Australian, New Zealand and Pacific universities whose journalism staff and students are keen to engage in constructive journalism.

For instance, more than 100 emerging journalists from 27 participating institutions in the Australasian region produced a collaborative broadcast series for the Constructive Journalism: Making a Difference 2020 project, part of the national journalism initiative The Junction.

The Constructive Institute is not alone in its mission to create change. The Solutions Journalism Network, set up in 2013, is also designed to lead a global shift in journalism by focusing on what the news misses most often: how people are trying to solve problems, too. 

Quality media outlets have pledged to incorporate the approach into their reporting, too. For instance, constructive and/or solutions journalism has been adopted by reporters in news organisations such as the ABC, BBC and The New York Times.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks Grant has been at Aarhus University in Denmark, where the Constructive Institute is based. The institute's Asia-Pacific hub opens at Monash in 2024, and will add to other regional hubs (one in Germany opened last year). 

The institute is a non-profit organisation that has been philanthropically funded by foundations and private corporations, including the Google Digital News Initiative.