Ronja von Wurmb Seibel on solution journalism and Afghanistan Radio Utopistan

When she had just become a journalist Ronja went to Afghanistan for almost two years.

There she did reports about the war, about drug addiction, poverty and other really devastating things. Sometimes all the misery left her hopeless and without perspective. So she started to look for the constructive aspects within her stories: for people who are trying to find a way out, for projects that are offering solutions.

This is called constructive journalism or solution journalism. She didn`t know it by then because it is a recent but very much needed version of journalism. It doesn`t mean to ignore the problems and crises but rather to focus on possible solutions.

Now, ten years after her first journey to Afghanistan Ronja wrote a book about constructive storytelling. She finished it last summer while the Taliban were taking over Kabul. On the phone in Germany she helped people escape the deadly regime thousand miles away. So, around her the world was falling apart and inside her head she was thinking about good news.

We talk about what stories and news can do to your mind and mood. How we all are storytellers in our everyday life and how we can turn the negative narratives into constructive ones without ignoring reality. She even has a formula for it. It goes like: Shit + X

Her book is called “How we see the world” in German. It's still not available in English yet, but soon it will be published in Polish, Czech and Korean. Maybe in Arabic.

You can find her here:
https://www.vonwurmbseibel.com/
@ronjavws