Is Good News Better than Bad?

03/13/2017 - 12h17

"Bad news is good news" is a saying repeated exhaustively by news media to justify the negative news that predominates in the press and media in general. The first pages are full of stories about corruption, scandals, unemployment, crime, violence, disasters and terrorism.

Does the media foment this negative news bias or is it responding to the audience's preference for bad news when opting to publish it instead of seeking out good news. It's a difficult question.

Two different studies which appear to be contradictory, but aren't really, reveal the dimension of the difficulty that journalists confront in trying to satisfy their readers.

A study by the Pew Research Center combined 165 national studies on news preferences covering the last 20 years in the United States.

Reports on war and stories about terrorism have been of highest interest since 1986 when the research began.

During the same timeframe, stories about natural disasters caused by humans became less and less of interest.

News stories involving money are what have attracted the most interest over time.

The second study showed that readers share positive news stories more than negative ones. The study was carried out by the Psychologist Jonah Berger, author of "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" (Leya, 2014), and shows that stories that provoke emotions - especially positive ones - are more likely to be shared by readers.

The Folha, a newspaper known for criticism that many readers mistake for nagging & complaining, has always been aware of the need to give prominence to positive news.

On July 14, 1991, the newspaper launched a section entitled "Good News" that remained a feature on the front page until January 19, 2006. On June 14, 2010, the section returned and ran for a shorter period before it was suspended again.

At the beginning of this year, the newspaper relaunched the section retitled as "Better Days" with the announcement that the objective was to "provide positive and inspiring information. Sérgio Dávila, the *Folha*'s Executive Editor, says that demand for positive news by readers is strong. "Journalism also means deeply and precisely covering news related to progress, improvement and overcoming."

The menu of forty reports has included stories related to social themes, medical and scientific research, community projects, human welfare initiatives and narratives of people overcoming poverty, education and health issues.

The first report described a project in Portugal with workshops teaching graffiti art to the elderly. Reader Gabriel de Oliveira Santos complained: "This is a polemic art form that interferes with other people's property and imposes authoritatively on others without their consent, and because of this it isn't well received by the majority in society."

This explicit reaction illustrates how choosing material isn't so obvious or simple. But this is only one of the challenges. One also has to be brave and methodical in making choices.

I think the idea is laudable, but am bothered by the way that this demand by readers has been responded to with an air of rehashed rather than innovative experiences.

There already are many sites, pages and newspapers in Brazil and throughout the world that publish only positive news.

The world has changed, readers have changed, and the newspaper must also change. Is repeating a formula from the past, by simply repackaging it, going to work?

It has functioned by obligating the newspaper to publish good news, but hasn't changed the way that the newspaper thinks and does things. Positive stories have to leave their niche at the margin and be published alongside investigative stories that can bring down a government minister.

For example, published reports of successful policies are nearly always ignored by the newspaper. Generally, this is because it is very difficult to evaluate them technically and dispassionately.

However, even more important in terms of social penetration and historical relevance are episodic themes of overcoming problems and obstacles - which also deserve to be covered and highlighted.

The Folha will never abandon its primary mission of investigating and holding those in power to account - which it already does frequently with a certain degree of excellence. It cannot however, allow itself to be overcome by the spirit of "failure-maniacs", as a former president wryly observed.

There has to be a willingness for finding and reaching a new level for presenting inspiring news that is also relevant.

This concern should be reflected in the newspaper's agenda, in carrying out precision reporting and in the interestingness of the theme being edited. News is news, whether good or not, and doesn't depend on better days.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

Read the article in the original language