Positive news versus negative news (Part 2): the other side of the argument
What you need to know:
- After reading this column last week, NMG Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi wondered whether the readers asking for positive news were only focusing on front-page stories, which sometimes bring news of conflict, disaster, and failure.
- Psychologists have also suggested that humans seek out news of dramatic and negative events and many studies have shown that people are more interested in the threat of bad things than in the prospect of good things.
- The NMG ought to report more of the useful stories — stories about the good things, large and small, that are happening in our society — and dwell more on solutions to problems and less on grumbling, croaking, and moaning. It is a question, really, of proportionality.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said in his Madaraka Day speech on June 1 that he felt extremely encouraged to see the media devoting a lot of time to matters of farming, agriculture, and rural wealth.
I am almost certain he was alluding to the Saturday Nation — and its imitators — which publishes Seeds of Gold, solutions-based positive stories on farming. There are, however, many other positive and inspirational stories that the NMG publishes.
One of the most often cited is “An island of wealth in the Pokot sea of poverty and cattle rustling”, a story published on February 23, 2013, in the Sunday Nation. Charles Onyango-Obbo travelled to Lelan and penned a heart-warming story about farmers who turned Lelan in West Pokot into a successful dairy farming area.
After reading this column last week, NMG Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi wondered whether the readers asking for positive news were only focusing on front-page stories, which sometimes bring news of conflict, disaster, and failure.
He said: “What of the many, many pages we have of inspirational stories, people’s triumphs against adversity? The celebration of success in innovations, sports?” Mr Mshindi said when NMG reports what readers call bad news, “it is because we are drawing attention to things that need to be fixed”.
Other communication experts have said the media publish negative news because this is what the readers want. Prof Levi Obonyo, in an article “Why media is obsessed with negative news” published on August 29, 2014, in People Daily, says mass media feed people with negative news because they cater for the interests of the working class, who are obsessed with the novel and the bizarre.
“They are interested in the fights amongst neighbours; the local thieves,” he writes. “These working class people have no access to the high society, which is above their reach. It is a tradition that the media have remained faithful to. These working class people are the majority in society, they determine circulation numbers, and thus interest the advertisers.”
Psychologists have also suggested that humans seek out news of dramatic and negative events and many studies have shown that people are more interested in the threat of bad things than in the prospect of good things.
Psychologist Tom Stafford goes further to suggest that although many people often say that they would prefer good news, in actual fact they do not. Indeed, researchers at McGill University in Canada found that people often choose stories with a negative tone.
Whether a story is “positive” or “negative”, what matters is whether it serves a useful purpose. A useful story helps the reader to understand an issue or problem.
As Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel state in their book, The Elements of Journalism, journalism is “storytelling with a purpose.” Journalism ought to help solve problems, empower people, and strengthen societies.
The NMG ought to report more of the useful stories — stories about the good things, large and small, that are happening in our society — and dwell more on solutions to problems and less on grumbling, croaking, and moaning. It is a question, really, of proportionality.
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MORE RESPONSES FROM READERS
“We don’t want journalists who merely regurgitate bilge from demented politicians. We want intelligent journalism which analyses every news item…We want journalists who can be agents of change to transform the country into a better place to live in.”— Ben Njenga
“The ‘preponderance of negative news’ is killing our appetite for enjoying reading newspapers. Let’s have a celebratory headline for a change.” — Sam Mwai
“It seems fault finding is the main objective [in reporting negative news]” — Githaiga Kairu
“I recall several casual conversations with some journalists on this matter confirming my suspicion that the ‘negative news’ approach is a strictly deliberate editorial policy. Will advertisement pay in a clutter of ‘positive’ coverage? …. Secondly, [would brown envelope journalism] thrive in an atmosphere [of] ‘positive news’?” — Gregory Odero.
For more readers’ comments visit http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/2732884/-/37qd1wz/-/index.html
Send your complaints or concerns to [email protected]. You can also call or send text messages to mobile 0721989264, call 3288000 or visit the public editor at Nation Centre in Nairobi.
