The news ecosystem nowadays focuses so much on conflict and disaster that we often forget there are other sides to news delivery. There is another ecosystem that dwells solely on impact and solutions. If you are you fed up with covering stories about things falling apart and want to shift your focus to the people who are actually making a difference? It's time to think outside the box and explore alternatives to traditional media outlets. 

Positive News, a renowned digital and print magazine published quarterly, is on the hunt for talented freelancers from all over the globe who can deliver in-depth, solutions-based reporting. 

They want to hear from writers who are passionate about telling the stories of individuals and organizations that are working tirelessly to create positive change. 

Aside from the pieces they accept, Positive News offers writers the opportunity to share inspiring tales of people who are dedicated to fixing the world, one story at a time. This means that you are going to have the opportunity to get your work published and also learn from their incredible team of experts.

The pay rate is at a competitive £0.30 per word, which works out to roughly $300 for a 1,000 word piece, and they accept pitches on a rolling basis, so there is no narrow window you need to catch. But before you get excited and fire off a story idea, there is something you need to understand about how this publication thinks. 

This is not a platform for soft, feel good stories that skip the hard questions. It is an assignment desk for constructive journalism, reporting that is just as rigorous and evidence based as any hard news piece. The only catch is that it is pointed at what is actually working rather than what has fallen apart.

To get your foot in the door, you have to understand how to build a pitch that goes beyond stating the problem to actually highlighting the solution. Here is exactly how to do that.

What Exactly Is Constructive Journalism

Conventional reporting tells you what went wrong. Constructive journalism tracks what is going right and, more importantly, how it got there. That distinction is the whole editorial mission at Positive News, and every pitch you send needs to reflect it.

Editors here are looking for stories built around four pillars.

  • The Problem Context: You need to frame the societal issue briefly, without sliding into the kind of doom scrolling narrative that dominates most news coverage.
  • The Response or Solution: This is where the real work happens. You are expected to go deep on the innovative system, technology, or community response that is actually tackling the issue.
  • The Evidence: Positive News wants hard data. Verified research and measurable impact tracking that shows the solution is genuinely working, not just a feel good anecdote.
  • The Insight and Limits: A balanced look at what other communities could learn from this example, and an honest account of its boundaries or blind spots. No solution is perfect, and pretending otherwise will get your pitch rejected fast.

The Open Verticals: Scoping Your Angle

  • Environment and Climate Action: Move past eco anxiety entirely. Editors want scalable rewilding projects, genuinely new green technologies, or indigenous conservation efforts that are producing real, verifiable results.
  • Society and Community Innovation: This vertical covers grassroots solutions to systemic problems. Think prison rehabilitation programs that are actually working, urban farming networks, or cooperative housing models that communities have built from the ground up.
  • Health and Well being: Here the focus is on breakthroughs in accessible mental health care, medical discoveries, or workplace wellness overhauls that go beyond surface level perks.
  • Global Affairs and Economics: This covers circular economies, progressive shifts in corporate structure, and grassroots peace building initiatives happening in different parts of the world.

To see the difference this framing makes, look at these two versions of the same underlying story.

Traditional angle: "Urban food deserts leave thousands without fresh produce."
Positive News angle: "How this London community land trust transformed abandoned parking garages into high yield organic mushroom farms, reducing local food insecurity by 40 percent."

Notice how the second version does not ignore the problem, it just refuses to stop there.

Anatomy of a Solutions Focused Pitch

Positive News has laid out their expectations clearly in their official pitching guidelines, and your pitch should follow this structure closely. This guideline is directly inspired by the guideline set out by Positive News. You may want to do further findings on their official website to get firsthand information.

  • The Narrative Disruptor (Paragraph 1): Here is where the writer explains how their story pushes back against the conventional, negative media framing of an issue. State clearly why this matters right now.
  • The Execution and Structure (Paragraph 2): Walk through exactly how you plan to execute the article. Give the editor a preview of the specific data and sources you intend to draw on.
  • The Interview List (Paragraph 3): Name your primary sources directly. Positive News expects journalists to actually interview and question the people doing the work. Do not succumb to the temptation of only repackaging a corporate press release.
  • Multimedia Assets (Paragraph 4): Mention any photography or illustration concepts you can provide alongside the piece. This publication places real weight on visual storytelling, so do not skip this part.

Where to Send and How to Follow Up

I think this is another important part of the process. You may put together a great pitch, but if you lack the right contact to reach it becomes.

To send in your freelance work, email them at editorial@positive.news. That's the main place where they collect all freelance submissions.

For your subject line, use a clear and consistent system: FREELANCE PITCH, followed by your working title focus, then your proposed vertical. For example, FREELANCE PITCH: The Solar Powered Schools of Sub Saharan Africa, Innovation.

Common Rejection Pitfalls to Avoid

  • Content that is too soft or fluffy. If your idea reads like a warm human interest piece with no hard data or systemic analysis behind it, it will get rejected.
  • Disguised PR pitches. Editors can spot a startup marketing pitch from a mile away. The focus has to stay on social impact, never on promoting a product or a launch.
  • Missing the how. A lot of writers spend most of their pitch describing the problem and only a sentence or two on the actual response. Flip that ratio. The problem is context, the solution is the story.

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