Author David Bornstein says that when it comes to covering social innovation, the media is doing it wrong. Instead of showing what's wrong in the world, how about showing how smart solutions can bring about change?
When it comes to journalism about social change, writer David Bornstein thinks the media isn't doing it right. Instead of showing the positive effects that innovative ideas can have, most coverage involves bad news. "I've been covering social innovators for 20 years now," he says. "It's occurred to me that the theory of change behind journalism is wrong."
"Theory of change" is a term of art in the nonprofit world that refers to the mechanism by which you believe what you're doing is going to make a positive difference. If your theory of change is based on self-empowerment, you might organize farmers to lobby the government; if it's economic development, you might loan them money to buy fertilizer.
When it comes to journalism about social change, writer David Bornstein thinks the media isn't doing it right. Instead of showing the positive effects that innovative ideas can have, most coverage involves bad news. "I've been covering social innovators for 20 years now," he says. "It's occurred to me that the theory of change behind journalism is wrong."
"Theory of change" is a term of art in the nonprofit world that refers to the mechanism by which you believe what you're doing is going to make a positive difference. If your theory of change is based on self-empowerment, you might organize farmers to lobby the government; if it's economic development, you might loan them money to buy fertilizer.
- 8/12/2011
- by Anya Kamenetz
- Fast Company
Gathered around a large, sun-drenched table in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco on a Friday afternoon are financial advisers, activists, marketers, designers, coders, lawyers, and a half-dozen more local entrepreneurs. There are representatives from the microlending empire Kiva, social justice organization MercyCorps, and a solar-energy company based in India. At the table's head is David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, widely considered to be the bible of social entrepreneurship, who casually addresses the group as they tuck into deli sandwiches and takeout sushi.
This is not some kind of exclusive golden-circle conference. This is a typical day at Hub SoMa, a 8600-square-foot shared workspace for socially focused enterprises, where a visitor at any hour of the day will witness similar exchanges between the several dozen startups, business incubators, and non-profits that inhabit the space. And today, acknowledges managing director Alex Michel,...
This is not some kind of exclusive golden-circle conference. This is a typical day at Hub SoMa, a 8600-square-foot shared workspace for socially focused enterprises, where a visitor at any hour of the day will witness similar exchanges between the several dozen startups, business incubators, and non-profits that inhabit the space. And today, acknowledges managing director Alex Michel,...
- 6/8/2010
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
With all systems go for the Bloom Box, the quarter-of-a-mil fuel device that's supposed to be the savior of the universe, here's a refresher course on the money man from venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who helped make the dream into something starting to resemble reality.
The 58-year-old has a big fat contacts book. All the usual suspects, from Al Gore and Bono, thru' Gates, Google and Steve Jobs, are close to Doerr.Green stuff and family makes him blub. On stage at a Ted event a few years back, Doerr got a little more than moist around the eyes when he mentioned daughter Mary's role in his refocusing on ways to save the planet.Doerr has pretty much turned from the Internet (although mobile Internet is, as he sees it, still a potential moneymaker) to green issues.His success is as much about the marketing as it is the money.
The 58-year-old has a big fat contacts book. All the usual suspects, from Al Gore and Bono, thru' Gates, Google and Steve Jobs, are close to Doerr.Green stuff and family makes him blub. On stage at a Ted event a few years back, Doerr got a little more than moist around the eyes when he mentioned daughter Mary's role in his refocusing on ways to save the planet.Doerr has pretty much turned from the Internet (although mobile Internet is, as he sees it, still a potential moneymaker) to green issues.His success is as much about the marketing as it is the money.
- 2/23/2010
- by Addy Dugdale
- Fast Company
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