TV2 Fyn: “Denmark’s most constructive media house”?

The bar was set high when a new two-year strategy for TV 2 Fyn was introduced in 2019, aiming to become “Denmark’s most constructive media house”. Now, we can finally present the results of what ended up being more than three years of focused work on strengthening the production of constructive journalism at TV 2 Fyn.

Did the project change the journalists’ mindset towards constructive journalism, and did the employees manage to integrate it more into the daily news coverage? Was more constructive content produced in that period? And did the citizens, viewers, and readers gain more trust in TV 2 Fyn and feel better equipped to participate in the democratic conversation? We explored this with the help of a professor, a research agency, and an expert from Constructive Institute.

It all started with an editor-in-chief who was highly ambitious about constructive journalism.

“I believe that we will be Denmark’s most constructive media house… We want it to become a new and completely integrated part of TV 2/Fyn’s total news coverage.”

Esben Seerup, Former Editor in Chief at TV2 Fyn

This was what Esben Seerup, editor-in-chief of TV 2 Fyn, wrote in his first blog for the Constructive Institute about the media house’s commitment.

An ambitious strategy was also set up to equip employees to reach the goal. An editor of constructive journalism and an editor for events and citizen engagement were appointed, and three employees were sent as fellows to the Constructive Institute in that period. We played a central role in the project ourselves, as editor for constructive journalism and editor of the Society Desk at TV 2 Fyn. We have also both of us been fellows at the Constructive Institute.

The strategy for this initiative at TV 2 Fyn was carefully planned with phases for all employees to go through together. Initially, all editorial staff were to be trained so that we could develop a common language and a common base for constructive journalism that could be the shared platform to build on.

Therefore, throughout the fall and winter of 2019, all employees attended a week-long course with 8-10 people in the classroom at a time. This training included the important co-developing of the media house’s very own definition of constructive journalism. The definition was based on four constructive values: solutions, involvement, nuanced, and critical. These values are also represented in the “Constructive Compass” – LINK – in English SINC. A set of criteria that could supplement classical news criteria and serve as our guiding star for future work. Both the definition and the Constructive Compass were printed on posters that were strategically placed around the media house, and also in the room where the daily editorial meetings are held, so everyone was aware of them.

After the training phase, it was time to experiment with applying the constructive values into daily news coverage. However, the pandemic struck during the initial practical exercises with constructive journalism, prolonging the work towards the goal by seventeen months.

This investment in the project increased the chances that we would jump high enough at TV 2 Fyn and reach the goal that the editor-in-chief set. It meant there was more time to work on constructive journalism in practice, and it meant that the sharp focus on constructive journalism extended over both a municipal and a parliamentary election.

After the first wave in the pandemic, the focus on using the Constructive Compass at editorial meetings to develop more constructive stories and the focus on constructive series from each news desk continued.

Last, but probably not least, feedback from management also served as a control tool in developing constructive journalism. There was external feedback from experts at the Constructive Institute, targeted feedback on constructive content from the editor of constructive journalism, and the top management also focused on constructive elements in their general feedback on all types of content on TV 2 Fyn’s platforms.

Did TV 2 Fyn reach the goal?

But how could the editor-in-chief and management even know if we had reached the goal when they finally closed the project in December 2022? Back in 2019, there was no method for measuring the proportion of constructive content on TV 2 Fyn’s platforms. Nor were there clear goals or plain key performance indiccators that could tell us if we had achieved what we aimed for – changing the mindset of the journalists and produce more constructive stories.

However, from the beginning, we had involved Morten Skovsgaard, Professor MSO, at the Center for Journalism at the University of Southern Denmark in the project.

He decided to measure how the editorial staff received the idea of working with constructive journalism, and whether there was a development during the project where more employees adopted the new values and thus oriented themselves more towards constructive journalism. In other words: Did the editorial staff develop a mindset where constructive angles on stories would play a greater role?

Morten Skovsgaard conducted the first measurement at the start of the project in June 2019, a mid-term measurement in September 2021, and finally the last one at the end of December 2023.

The professor would also cross-check the internal measurements with the external measurements from TV 2 Fyn’s annual brand analysis, where the people of Funen are asked, among other things, about TV 2 Fyn’s credibility. As a new initiative prompted by Morten Skovsgaard, they were now also asked whether they felt equipped to participate in the democratic conversation.

Now we can give you the full picture of the professor’s research for the first time combined with an analysis from Constructive Institute on the content. As it happens, researchers at the institute have developed an algorithm that can measure the proportion of constructive content on a media platform with written journalism. It has strengthened our opportunities to find answers to our questions ask. Did TV 2 Fyn become Denmark’s most constructive media house? However, the algorithm’s limitations mean that we can only get results for our production of articles for www.tv2fyn.dk and not for our news broadcasts. But we still find that it makes sense to use this measurement of content as an indicator of how the production of constructive stories has developed in the period, because in most cases, the content in the TV newscast is formatted as written pieces and published as web articles.

Finally, we have measurements from TV 2 Fyn’s annual brand analysis, which can give us an idea of whether the project has influenced citizens’ perception and opinion of TV 2 Fyn.

Developing a new mindset

Looking first at the results of Morten Skovsgaard’s studies on the development among the editorial staff during the more than three year long sharp focus on the topic from the management, the outcome is clear. The proportion of employees who believe that constructive journalism is a good idea increased from 66 percent in July 2019 to 81.5 percent in January 2023.

It is not only the employees’ attitude towards the idea of constructive journalism that is moving in a positive direction. When we look at the question of employees’ perception of constructive journalism, we see the same trend toward a more positive mindset.

Over time, more employees respond affirmatively to statements such as “Constructive journalism makes TV 2 Fyn more relevant for the people of Funen” and that it can help “ensure higher trust.”

However, there is also a development that neutralizes over time: the perception of whether constructive journalism makes “daily work more interesting”. In 2019, 45 percent of employees imagined this to be the case. This figure increased halfway through the project to 54 percent, only to fall back to the 2019 level by the end. In other words, constructive journalism becomes a kind of everyday routine over time.

Another surprise — at least for the authors of this blog — is that employees’ responses to the question of whether it results in “less time for essential journalism” were predominantly positive. They did not feel that constructive journalism pushed aside other important journalistic tasks. As participants and leaders of the project, we know this was a genuine and widespread concern when the project started. This concern was echoed during the courses and in discussions about the project in the newsroom and at the coffee machine. However, it turned out that this assumption was almost disproved over the years, as the responses indicate. The proportion of employees who considered this to be true fell from 23.5 percent to 8.6 percent.

Can we move the hardcore critics?

The overall picture shows that the editorial staff developed a more constructive mindset throughout the project, but what happens if we focus on the type of journalists who showed the greatest resistance to the project from the beginning? These are the “watchdogs”, defined as those with a strong focus on being critical of those in power. Are they harder to convince than, for example, the “shepherd dogs”, who are more focused on presenting solutions in their journalism? Or the “rescue dogs”, defined in the study as those who believe it is extremely or very important to motivate citizens to participate in public debate?

What happens if we zoom in on the type of journalists who showed the greatest resistance to the project from the start?

In his study, Morten Skovsgaard asked questions that made it possible to categorize journalists into these three types. The rescue dogs and shepherd dogs were largely on board with the project from the beginning, so there aren’t as many in these two categories who needed convincing. However, when we look at the watchdogs in the study, we see that their attitude changes over time. From the first measurement in 2019 to the final measurement in 2023, the proportion of watchdogs who believe that constructive journalism is a very good or a good idea, increased by almost ten percentage points. It is also worth noting that, both halfway through the project and towards the end, no watchdogs believed that constructive journalism was a bad or very bad idea.

Therefore, our conclusion is that we have that we have been largely successful with

adjusting the DNA of the editorial staff and adding constructive criteria to their traditional set of news values, which typically focus on conflict and sensation. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that changes in the staff composition, with those who were not in favor of constructive journalism leaving the organization, and new journalists who are more positively inclined towards constructive journalism joining, may have played a role. However, the results show that we achieved what we set out to do.

But What About the Content?

However, this does not necessarily mean that more constructive journalism was produced on TV 2 Fyn’s platforms. As mentioned at the beginning, it is fortunately now possible to measure the production of constructive journalism on TV 2 Fyn’s digital platforms, even in hindsight. But measurements reveal that the employees at TV 2 Fyn embraced the idea of constructive journalism to such an extent that it is reflected in the content.

In April 2019, the proportion of constructive content was 19.4 percent. By November 2021, this number had risen marginally to 19.6 percent. This modest increase can be explained by the fact that the first six months were spent training all staff without translating it into actual published journalism. It wasn’t until February 2020 that we began actively incorporating constructive journalism into practice.

The latest measurement from February 2023, however, shows a significant development. At that time, 28.1 percent of TV 2 Fyn’s digital content was constructive. This indicates that not only have we managed to shift the journalists towards a constructive direction, but this shift is also reflected in the journalistic content they produce for TV 2 Fyn.

It seems that achieving this takes time. Had we ended the project as originally planned in 2020, and had the management let go of the reins on this constructive initiative, it is far from certain that we would have been able to create a development that was also reflected in the content, thereby bringing us closer to the goal.

At the Constructive Institute, the team conducted a national survey in 2019 to measure the level of constructive content across all national newspapers. The algorithm was used for this as well and revealed an average constructive content percentage of 18.0.

Thus, TV 2 Fyn’s constructive content percentage of 28.1 in 2023 is significantly above the national newspaper average, and their starting point in 2019 was already similar to the average for national newspapers in Denmark. In summary, once again, we achieved what we set out to do – a step further reaching the goal.

What Do the Users Say?

Before we reveal our assessment of whether TV 2 Fyn has become “Denmark’s most constructive media house,” we would like to present the users’ view of our media house.

Through our brand analyses, we can gain insight into what they think about TV 2 Fyn’s credibility, the media house’s focus on problems and negative news, and whether they feel better equipped to participate in the democratic conversation as we present them with more constructive journalism.

The first question was included in the annual brand analysis from 2019 to 2022. Unfortunately, it was removed from the analysis in 2023.

In 2019, approximately two out of three people from Funen believed that we focused on problems and negative news to a very high, high, or moderate extent, while one-third believed that this was the case to a lesser extent or not at all.

In the following years, the question was narrowed down to only focus on problems and not negative news, and a “don’t know” category was added. But from 2019 to 2020, we see a decrease in the percentage of people from Funen who believe that we focus too much on problems, with only half now thinking that TV 2 Fyn focuses too much on problems.

In the following years, this perception remains the same, with half of the people from Funen still holding this view from 2020 to 2022. On the other hand, the percentage of people from Funen who do not believe we focus too much on problems increases slightly, from 28.1 percent in 2020 to 32.1 percent in 2021, and finally to 32.6 percent in 2022. This represents an extremely marginal improvement in terms of our goal to shift the perception of the people of Funen towards a more constructive view of us. So, we are seeing baby steps in the desired direction.

Considering that it took time to shift our content towards producing more constructive journalism, it makes sense that it takes even more time to change users’ perceptions so that they notice and sense that there is more constructive content on TV 2 Fyn, focusing on solutions, nuances, and involvement while still being critical.

Gaining trust

When we look at the questions in the brand analysis regarding credibility, respondents were asked in 2020, 2021, and 2022 whether TV 2 Fyn delivers credible news. Unfortunately, this question was not asked in 2019, nor at the conclusion of the project in 2023, when the design of TV 2 Fyn’s brand analysis changed significantly. In those years, however, there is a slight increase from 78 percent in 2020 to 80 percent in 2021 and 2022.

So, the change is marginal during the initial years of the project, but it starts from a high level. It’s unfortunate that this question was not tracked to the end of the project in 2023. As mentioned earlier, we believe that it takes time for users to notice and articulate that the content of a media outlet has changed and, most importantly, what it means for their perception of the outlet’s credibility.

More convincing, however, is the users’ view of TV 2 Fyn’s credibility compared to other media outlets. Here, we see a clear development during the years of the constructive initiative, with TV 2 Fyn increasingly being viewed as a credible media outlet.

In 2019, which was an exceptionally low point, 41 percent of people from Funen saw TV 2 Fyn as the place where they could find the most credible news. This number rose to 60.1 percent in 2022. It is difficult to say whether this increase is due to the constructive initiative, but it is a relevant figure to consider in the combination of measurements we need to draw conclusions about the project’s impact.

The last aspect we look at in the brand analysis is whether, as the constructive project unfolds on TV 2 Fyn’s platforms, users feel better equipped to participate in the democratic conversation. Again, there has been a positive change.

As the results below show, more people agree with the statement: “I feel qualified to participate in discussions on the most important societal issues.”
In 2019, this applied to 59.4 percent of people from Funen. In 2023, it applied to 63.4 percent. But it is a small increase, which does not allow us to definitively determine an effect.

The development is more significant for the statement: “I have a reasonable understanding of the most important societal issues”.

Here, 68.4 percent agreed or completely agreed in 2019. By 2023, this number had risen to 77 percent. This indicates a noticeable improvement.

It is far from certain that the constructive initiative at TV 2 Fyn can take full credit for the fact that, overall, people from Funen were slightly better equipped to participate in the democratic conversation in 2023 compared to 2019. However, this is still a factor we will consider when we now give our assessment of whether TV 2 Fyn’s employees managed to reach the goal of becoming “Denmark’s…”.

… most constructive media house?

In combining the three studies, which each in their way describe the effects of the media house’s constructive initiative, we believe this gives us the opportunity to answer that question.

Over the nearly three and a half years that the project lasted, the measurements show that we succeeded in adjusting the editorial staff’s DNA, which was previously solely focused on traditional news values and criteria, to embrace the constructive values and criteria we had set on the agenda as well  — even among the group of watchdogs, who are typically the hardest to convince that constructive journalism is a good idea.

Additionally, we see that the public increasingly find TV 2 Fyn more credible compared to other media outlets and we observed a slight increase in the perception of TV 2 Fyn as a media house that delivers credible news. At the same time fewer people believe that TV 2 Fyn focuses too much on problems. While this development has stagnated, the proportion of people from Funen who do not think we focus too much on problems has increased slightly.

When it comes to whether the public feel better equipped to participate in the democratic conversation, the results are too weak to draw any conclusions. In any case, it would be difficult to attribute this development—whether positive or negative—solely to efforts at TV 2 Fyn. It could as likely be due to them reading the local newspaper or radio, consulting national media, or talking with friends to strengthen their democratic understanding.

One final result we think adds the crucial centimeters needed for us to conclude that TV 2 Fyn has earned the title of “Denmark’s most constructive media house” when the project closed in 2023, is the proportion of constructive content. We reached 28.1 percent, a figure significantly higher than the average for content in Danish media overall. The most recent measurement for this was 18 percent in 2019.

With a persistent and consistent focus on constructive journalism, TV 2 Fyn managed to rise significantly above the average. Therefore, we allow ourselves to say that Esben Seerup’s words that TV 2 Fyn should be Denmark’s most constructive media house were fulfilled in the spirit in which they were presented.