Why do we always get bad news from the media?

Question

In England Television and newspapers always headline knife crime and murders, in Germany its child neglect and youth services and i am sure in France or whatever its something else.

I honestly cant be asked to read the news anymore as they make me depressed. It sounds like our society is at the brink of collapse which of course (in my view) is not helping at all. Sure those things like child neglect and youth crime need to be highlighted but do they have to dominate our news every single fkucing day? It seems that the news is too heavily concentrating on war, crime, murder, drugs and accidents.

I mean why should i care in London if someone in Scotland has a car accident??????? Thats not news. People have fatal car accidents every day. Just an example of a daily topic on the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7515315.stm

Do you honestly think the world/country we live in is as bad as the media portrays it?

Answer 1

we only here bad news because at the moment that`s all there is.

Answer 2

Because the powers that be only create bad news . It's there evil nature .

Answer 3

Ratings basically. Back when the media was more or less independent (70s or earlier) it did a vastly better job of reporting the news. Since then all the big , media outlets have been acquired by huge corporate conglomerates. And have been run more and more as a business. IE news is a "product" that they are selling. And crime sells, no way around it. News stations saw their ratings climb rapidly when they started reporting on things like crime and s*x abuse. I think crime reporting is up something like 800% since 1990 last I heard.

The flip side to the corporate control of the media, is that aside from flooding the news with nasty sordid stories, is that they go to great lengths to excuse or ignore corporate and government malfeasance.

So no, the media hypes the dangers of crime and such and makes people really overestimate their danger...but it ignores  big problems which are far more serious. So the world is both better and worse than the mainstream media portrays it. :)

Answer 4

I am in the US and the media is the same all over.  Blood and gore sells.  Love and kisses do not.  Pick and choose where you get your news and perhaps you can make some sense of it.

Answer 5

Bad news is more sensational and sells newspapers.

Years ago, after a long strike by printworkers - the Wapping affair! - at The Times, their reporters contacted various Embassies, govt. offices etc to ask for the good news.  Most had nothing to say, some said they would call back. The single column that was the result barely ran the length of the front page.

It takes a spectacular rescue operation or the birth of quintuplets, that sort of good news, to make headlines.

Answer 6

The answer is simple.

Bad news sells!

They are in the business of selling newspapers..

Headlines..

30,000 people behave themselves at match!

Would you care about that?

People want to be reminded that something bad happened to someone else... not them, which makes them feel better that they weren't involved with something going pearshaped, or mixed up with bad people.

There was a rich American who said that he was sick of reading bad news, so he opened a newspaper which printed nothing but good news.

It was called the Texan Star... went bust within 6 months!

Good luck on your journey

Answer 7

No. The world has been in much worse shape in the past than the media portrays. I'm guessing ratings suggest viewers want to hear more negative news, than positive. Also, communication worldwide is instant now. Years ago, news of a car accident in Scotland, wouldn't reach London, or it's media for several days, or weeks. Pictures, video of people being injured, killed, accidents, are more appealing than some kid winning a spelling contest, unfortunately.

Answer 8

They are suffering ratings in freefall so are hoping sensationalism will attract the masses back. It won't.

Answer 9

sadly good news doesn't sell.

Answer 10

You are wrong. It's vital that I know which unseen threat I need to be terrified of at which particular moment in time. If it's not bird flu, I need to be vigilant against terrorists or illegal immigrants or crazed knife-wielding teenagers.

How else am I meant to maintain my perpetual and irrational state of depression and fear, eh? Didn't think about that, did you?

Answer 11

I really do believe that the media is completely controlled by the government, and the government have short, medium and longterm objectives for our society.

Control of the media is a MUST for any government with change on it's mind.

If television is after all the 'Opiate of the masses', then newspapers must be the 'Cocaine of the Confused'!

Answer 12

Bad news sells papers - it's that simple. As are the people that suck up the tripe that's printed.

Answer 13

news is about ratings .. we love action and drama in our movies and TV programs and news is not much different. They cannot use comedy so must use tragedy to get our attention. Its the reason we all look at the train wreck even when we are in a rush. The news is about ratings not the truth.

Answer 14

No, certain news items become fashionable. At the moment it's knife crime, sooner or later it will be something else, but knife crime will not have gone away.

Answer 15

I just recently thought of that as well...

I think it's human nature to focus on the bad and negative sides of things