To watch the news or not to watch the news – THAT is the question.

I don’t know about you, but I am starting to feel quite drained these days when I watch the news and read the paper. It is filled with economic and social doom and gloom and I always wonder what makes news?

If we had a policy that the news had to be an equal distribution of positive and negative news what do you think that would be like?

The news companies will say bad news sells but why can’t good news be equally profitable? Why can’t we be told about the success stories of certain breeding projects instead of just how the ice caps are melting and the threat to the polar bears existence?

For every social uprising and associated war, why can’t be we told about equality and where society and governments are working well together?

For every dark economic forecast, why can’t we be given a positive message of how to make the most of these tough times and to think smarter about money. This could pave the way for much better future money management and financial security.

If we received more encouraging and positive messages from the media we would all have a more positive outlook on life and this energy would flow through all aspects of society.

One of the reasons why I believe holidays are so relaxing is because we take a break from what is going on around us – a big piece of that is the news. We get to be away from the constant barrage of negative messages.

So – to watch the news or not? I guess everything in moderation.

2 Responses to “The Dilemma”

  1. I read a summary of the daily news just so that I’m not living under a rock. It takes about 5 minutes and doesn’t leave a big negative (or positive) impact. The lack of images and repetitive discussion from TV news reporters means there is a greatly reduced influence on my state.

    I then spend proportionally a lot more time reading about or watching videos on innovation, humanitarian efforts, scientific advances etc.

    That helps me though my knowledge of popular culture is pretty scarce so there is a trade-off.

  2. You’ve really hit on something here Hilbre, and in the context of your last post I think the Oscar Pistorius case is an example of why blanket media coverage is so utterly soul-destroying. If you had to watch a rolling 24hr news channel like CNN or SkyNews you would see that pretty much the same stories roll, in soundbite size, across the screen every 15 minutes, which tells one a lot. Which is why I almost never watch TV News and only skim read papers online, as well as daily summaries. I keep in touch with things from socio-political and economic events as well as popular culture and things that interest me, but don’t get bogged down in the, frankly depressing and often distorted, detail.
    I’m afraid though that is human nature that dictates the stories in the media. Most people do default to the morbid, miserable and sensational unfortunately and it is my experience that even if the headline was a good news item, the 4 column inches at the bottom left corner of the same page will be the story that grows legs. The media ghouls are sadly right – good news seldom sells unless it’s a royal wedding or global sporting event and even then the number of nitpicking nasties that flock to the online comments pages and start water-cooler conversations with “Yes, but…” before criticising someone or something (usually someone) that they do not know, who is being portrayed in a particular way by a particular media outlet for the sake of that outlet’s bottom line, beggars belief.
    However, I do believe that it would not serve any purpose to have a policy controlling what the balance of news should be as when there is something important it could be effected. Furthermore, this could amount to curbing press freedom and for all its many ills and evils, a free press is a powerful voice when used positively, as history proves.

    My tip is to just not watch or read so much news and go for a daily summary as Andrea above suggests. Having lived in countries where I’ve only spoken enough of the language to get the gist of things I’ve realised that it seldom impacts dramatically on one’s life and when it might you do find out what you need to 🙂

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