Maryam Solika: Fear has become an industry… and we must restore stories of hope in the media

Solika, who was selected as part of the fifth batch of the initiative Young Leaders for the 2025 Sustainable Development GoalsToday, it runs a digital community that includes more than 300,000 young Arabs, and its content reaches millions of followers across social media platforms, where it provides what it describes as “solutions journalism” that highlights stories of resilience and positive initiatives in the Arab region.

During a visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York, Solika spoke to UN News about her vision for the role of the media, and why she believes young people no longer need to wait for a seat at the “decision-making table.”

Hope is outside the hall

A few days ago, Solica participated in an event at the United Nations General Assembly on the occasion of the eighty-first anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter. In her speech, she focused on one message: hope.

She told UN News: “My whole message was to deliver hope. We are going through a very difficult period, and even a person may find it difficult to look at it with hope, without people thinking that he is unstable or abnormal.”

Maryam Solika believes that the source of this hope is not limited to what is happening inside the corridors of the United Nations, but rather begins outside it, from initiatives led by young people in their communities.

added: “As long as young people are able to carry out activities, events and initiatives outside the General Assembly Hall, there is still hope that this energy will enter it. I hope that countries will give young people a chance, and listen to the initiatives they are leading.”

From death notices to a platform for good news

An idea started (The Good News – The Good News) During a pandemic Covid-19when Solika was studying journalism in Egypt. She remembers that period, saying that her phone was filled with notifications talking about deaths and vaccine shortages, until she felt that the news had become a constant source of anxiety.

And she says: “I challenged myself to search every day until I found one piece of news that made me feel like the world would not end tomorrow.”

Then it began publishing short clips collecting positive news, and then the initiative gradually turned into a platform specializing in solutions journalism, providing articles and digital content focusing on humanitarian initiatives and local successes.

“Fear has become an industry”

Solica believes that the problem does not lie in the presence of negative news, but rather in the dominance of fear in the media industry. And she says: “The primary goal of a lot of content today is to make money, because scaring a person is the easiest way to get them to click on the link or interact with the post.”

She believes that the media industry has often begun to measure success by the number of clicks and views, which has led to a decline in the primary role of journalism in conveying the full picture.

She adds: “We have stepped aside from our real role, which is to tell people everything that is happening, and not just what achieves the highest rate of interaction.”

She points out that digital platforms have strengthened this trend, because interaction has become the primary currency that generates revenue.

Why don’t stories of resilience make headlines?

Sulica says her focus on positive news is not to ignore tragedies, but to complete the picture.

She points out that the war in Gaza has produced, in addition to the pain, many stories about steadfastness, initiative, and solidarity, but they often do not receive the same space in the media.

And you wonder: “Why are these stories not appearing in the headlines? Who has an interest in not showing that there is hope?”

She adds that fear, if it continues without balance, turns into a state of paralysis: “Fear is like a drug; it enters your body and numbs you, and then you cannot move.”

The story of a child from Gaza

Among the stories that sparked widespread interaction on its platform is the story of a Palestinian child whose leg was amputated in Gaza, so he made himself a replacement limb from a tube he found among the rubble so that he could move.

Solika says that some followers accused her of focusing on the positive side and ignoring the causes of the tragedy, while others saw the story as an embodiment of resilience.

But the surprise was that the spread of the story later contributed to the child’s access to appropriate treatment in Egypt. She comments: “Do I feel happy when I post a story like this? No. The feeling is not happiness, but survival.”

She explains that her goal is not to deny reality, but rather to direct attention to the aspect that may be absent amid the torrent of news: “The big picture is in front of everyone ninety-nine percent of the time. I’m just trying to draw attention to the one percent that people don’t see.”

Young people and the table

Although she was selected as part of the Young Leaders for Sustainable Development Goals Initiative, Solika does not believe that the main problem lies in the absence of young people from decision-making tables. But she goes further, saying: “In my opinion, we no longer need that table in the first place.”

She explains that social media and artificial intelligence have provided young people with tools to build their own paths, away from traditional institutions.

She adds: “The question is no longer: Do youth have a seat at the table? Rather, it became: What is this table? And who made it? Can we make an alternative table?

She believes that the International Youth Leaders Initiative provides an important space for cooperation between young people from different parts of the world, and the exchange of experiences and ideas, away from official roles and policy making.

Message to young people

At the conclusion of the dialogue, Solica sent a message to young people, especially in the Arab region, where many feel frustrated as a result of conflicts and crises.

She said: “Create your own space. Create your own tables. Invite people who you think deserve to be a part of it.”

She stressed that the world today provides unprecedented opportunities to access knowledge, calling on young people to invest in developing their skills and not wait for traditional opportunities.

She concluded her speech with a brief message summarizing her vision: “Take the initiative, be quick to create something of your own, and always seek knowledge by all available means and means.”

While wars continue to dominate the news, Maryam Solica is betting that telling human stories is no less important than conveying tragedies, and that showing examples of resilience does not mean ignoring reality, but rather helps people see the whole picture, and gives them the ability to continue working to change it.