The definition of news, traditionally speaking, is what’s going wrong in the world. As the old adage says, “if it bleeds, it leads”. Or, as Ulrik Haagerup was taught at journalism school, “a good story is a bad story”.

He lived by that rule for decades. It took him to the very peak of his profession in his native Denmark. Until he realised that “I was part of the problem”.

Illustration by Joe Benke

“We in the news business have benefited from the Trumps of the world who know how to play the algorithms – make it louder, make it more extreme, make it more controversial, make it more outrageous.”

The industry worldwide has benefited from the higher ratings and greater audience interest in Trump. And so-called “social” media has polarised the emotional responses into bitter warring camps with intense audience engagement and fat profits.

“It is destroying society, it is destroying democracy,” says Haagerup. He cites the then chair of the US broadcasting network CBS, Les Moonves, who in 2016 said of Trump’s early rallies: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”

Haagerup quit his job as the news director at the national broadcaster, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, to found the Constructive Institute in 2017. The institute is now attempting to be part of the solution.

Instead of reporting overwhelmingly on problems, journalism should be telling audiences about solutions, he says. “We want to change the global news culture.”

He doesn’t propose that we stop reporting on problems. Far from it. But he proposes more, starting with the simple, two-word question: “Now what?”

“Stop anyone in your country and ask, ‘do you need more news faster?’ They will say, ‘no, we don’t. We need........

© The Age