Bad News Junkies
It's no secret that Brett's vice president, John Boyanoski, used to be a journalist. He often will tell stories of his days in the newsroom that are semi-hard to believe. It has given him a somewhat cynical eye to when it comes to dealing with how the media portrays an event.
A favorite of his is the whole "good news" stories. Readers would periodically call in and complain about the lack of good news in the newspaper and then chime in that if the newspaper ran more good news they would read it. John would then point out the good news stories written -- his favorite would be when a reader would claim such a story wasn't covered, but really was. The reader would stammer a little and grumble and pretty much hang up. The cycle would repeat quickly with another reader.
Where is this leading? A few weeks back, the national and international media was agog with stories about Egyptian unrest and how it was all about "restoring" democracy. No, the story was about the unrest and the democracy was just a nice garnish on the big stew of gloom. The proof came over the weekend. Egypt had its first votes under its new-found democracy. There were stories, but they were pushed to the back of newscasts and section fronts. The social media world barely made a peep. The reason was new pools of unrest had simmered to the top in Libya. Is this the media's fault? No, it is the consumers. They don't want good news. They want the bad. They have become "bad news junkies."
A favorite of his is the whole "good news" stories. Readers would periodically call in and complain about the lack of good news in the newspaper and then chime in that if the newspaper ran more good news they would read it. John would then point out the good news stories written -- his favorite would be when a reader would claim such a story wasn't covered, but really was. The reader would stammer a little and grumble and pretty much hang up. The cycle would repeat quickly with another reader.
Where is this leading? A few weeks back, the national and international media was agog with stories about Egyptian unrest and how it was all about "restoring" democracy. No, the story was about the unrest and the democracy was just a nice garnish on the big stew of gloom. The proof came over the weekend. Egypt had its first votes under its new-found democracy. There were stories, but they were pushed to the back of newscasts and section fronts. The social media world barely made a peep. The reason was new pools of unrest had simmered to the top in Libya. Is this the media's fault? No, it is the consumers. They don't want good news. They want the bad. They have become "bad news junkies."
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