I wish our news was happier.

[SkyDream 315]

Just like the thread title says. I wish that the majority of our news articles would be a lot happier. More cheerful, upbeat, friendly, yeah. All that.

 

Like this. Why can't we just have stories about people rescuing ducks to make us feel good instead of angry or afraid. Rescuing ducks affects us as much as a building catching fire, but one makes us feel better about ourselves and the other makes us feel sad.

 

If they're showing us a burned out building and its own, it could make us want to donate to them to help them recover. I'm sure that happens. But there's never any mention of a donation effort on the news coverage.

 

But give me a duck being rescued, and I would watch that station. I would definitely become a regular.

 

Ducks ducks ducks. Ducks.

[Arctic Night 884]

I for one, prefer news that reflects issues of importance. How I feel about them is irrelevant.

[caramba2654 602]

We don't often get good or happy news because they don't draw the attention of lots and lots of people. Bad or dramatic news do, though.

[Azure Envy 1,093]

I for one, prefer news that reflects issues of importance. How I feel about them is irrelevant.

 

I wish we had more of that too.

[Dattebayo 2,850]

What are you more likely to tune in to, in general:

 

"Baby ducks rescued"

 

or

 

"Ducks now extinct"

[Titan Rising 2,156]

its easier to make a big deal about tragedies that don't concern us than good things.  The best thing I ever did was stop paying attention to the news and go out and make my own happier news

[Guest90210 3,569]

There's plenty of stories like this on the news. But when they are shown, people generally complain "THIS ISN'T REAL NEWS!", so it's balanced out

[Scootalove 10,692]

I wish we could hear more positive stories on the news too, but people complain about it which is sad. Instead, most people focus on other news that don't matter yet they attract their attention.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

It would be nice to focus on the happy, and while I understand that might be good for mental health, I value staying informed over hearing happy news.

 

And if you're staying informed... well, there's not much happy news out there, unfortunately.

[Clarity 3,094]

That's because, surprisingly, far more good stuff happens than bad stuff in this world. 

 

Think about it. A murder would likely make it on the news because... well, it's murder and murder is really, really bad. But what's the opposite of murder? The giving of a human life. Tons of babies are born every day but hardly any of them make it in the spotlight unless it's the daughter or son of someone famous. People just don't care about the more amounts of good stuff and care more about the tragedies. 

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

well, happy doesn't sell as many copies. Are you more likely to tune into the nightly news where 6 kids crossed the road ok, or the news were there was a triple homicide followed by a grand theft auto followed by a plane hijacking? Fear sells man, and the news is in business to sell.

[Pinkamena-Pills 6,840]

Sure,would be great if news was more 'happy' focused,but the networks gotta get their views and sadly something terrible or dramatic is more likely to get that particular job done. 

 

Also:

 

I for one, prefer news that reflects issues of importance. How I feel about them is irrelevant.

[Jorguil 54]

This topic is kinda right in that sense but at the same time I am sure that a day of happy news would be it's own news to report because in of itself is not likely to ever be, not that I wouldn't like it to be more happy in the world but how can you get that when you have people who can only be happy when other members of the world have a bad day? Then there are a growing number of those who sees the worth of others to a point where they see that their day would be better with those individuals erased. I honestly wish I knew where I was going with this so in that note the news is to know what is going on nothing else.

[ReverseFaller 2,484]

The news has taught me one thing. There are far too many people broken beyond repair in this world. Seriously, some of the stuff people do blows my mind. 

 

The news should have more feel good articles, or maybe more stories that are simply interesting. Important events is a must have as well. As long as there are less articles about old women being gang-raped, or disgusting stuff life that. 

[Callisto 1,877]

Because alot of good news is mundane, and not worth reporting about.

 

Let's use your example; the rescue of ducks. Those ducks really don't matter in the long run; they're just ducks. Now, let's look at a building catching fire; people that other people care about could've been in the building. As such, the building catching fire is far more important.

 

People seem to forget that when there is actually important good news, such as a killer getting caught or people getting rescued, it is reported on. Don't ignore things for the sake of arguement.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Callisto

[Discordian 6,023]

I read gaming news. Lots of great news there. Just gotta know where to look.

[Zygen 6,066]

I don't really bother with the news generally, it usually just ends up getting me depressed or something typically.

[Megas 28,313]

Unfortunately bad news is the only news a majority of people will pay attention to.

 

Sure sometimes its necessary, but it would be nice to know when good things happen

Edited June 19, 2014 by Kamina

[Sugar Pea 2,683]

I understand why people must keep up with the majority of negative things. There are some we must pay attention, like the stuff going on in the Middle East right now, and stuff such as. 

Yes, I do wish they would exploit more than just uncommon deaths, accidents, war, death, bad news, death, anchor women sex appeal, death, politics, death. Did I already say death? ._.
 

[Yamato 1,348]

Think of it this way: you're a news corporation. Big or small, doesn't really matter. The way to keep yourself going is to keep as many people watching/reading to your news as possible. So how do you go about doing this? Hire an attractive newsperson? Sure, but that's probably not going to increase your viewer-base very much. Advertise more? Nah, that costs too much. How about you headline your program with the gritty stuff, rape, murder, robbery, terrorists, "Is X a Threat?", car recalls, epidemics, etc.? Ah, now you're on to something... You see, as a general rule, people are more inclined to show interest in negative news stories. Why? Because people (and animals in general) like to avoid negative situations even more than they like to place themselves in positive situations, so if you can tell people where and what the negative bits are, they'll probably listen to you.

Now, this is just one of many tools that news media companies use in their never-ending quest for self preservation, and one will tend to see a higher percentage of positive stories coming from larger companies, as they have the profit margins and consumer-base security to pull off such stories far more often.

HOWEVER, it is also worth mentioning that negative stories stick in your head far better than positive ones. A news broadcast may in reality have an equal number of positive and negative bits, but it may seem negative-heavy just because those are the bits you remember more. This again ties back to the tendency of animals to avoid negative outcomes. If you know more about where and what kind of bad stuff is going down, you can convince yourself that you can avoid it better. Now, you may not actually be able to avoid it better, but your brain is pretty damn good at convincing itself, so it tags such stories as "kinda important for survival", and as a result you remember more of them.

And then, of course, some news days just fall that way. Just a ton of bad went down or one most-heinous thing happened to screw up everybody's good time. These kind of days don't happen all too often, but when they happen, they fucking happen. (See: September 11, 2001; April 19, 1995, June 4, 1989) 

 

So yeah, this is pretty much why news isn't happier.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,307]

Idea: a news program / publication that is ONLY about ducks.  They could call it...  "The Ducking News."  Or something else.  Not that.

 

I don't derive a tremendous amount of entertainment value from "the news," so I don't often look into it.  This doesn't mean I live in a happy little bubble of ignorance whilst wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket of delusion; I still "hear" some things, one way or another.  And I'm well aware that genuinely heart-wrenching and horrific things do occur.  But how does learning that someone went on a killing spree thousands of miles away benefit me in the least?  How do I "use" this information??  Other than to depress someone.  And even articles / sites that frequent a vein that I'm at least remotely interested in (video games, for example) are sooooo dripping with bias and negativity that I stay well away from those as well, now.

[碇 シンジン 27,442]

News companies think money first and usually exaggerate and dramatize pretty much anything to get views and more people hooked this corruption is the main reason I never watch the news anymore

[EpicEnergy 23,255]

I wish the news was happier as well. Too bad they are based off of money, and controversial, emotional, and dramatic topics tend to bring in more money than just happy topics.

[Phosphor 11,544]

That'll never happen with the 24/7 news cycle. "If it bleeds, it leads." still holds true today, but now has a new partner: clickbait headlines.

I do like the format of most local news stations: Statewide and local news, Summary of national news, weather, sports, and finance. Best part is there's no political talking heads. Just the news.

 

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,508]

If it helps there was once a day so slow the news anchor said “There is no news today”, and they played piano music instead.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Stone Cold Steve Tuna
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