‘Good news doesn’t sell ?’

 Many years ago, in a different life, when I used present a daily radio show in Dublin, the economy had virtually collapsed. News headlines, and indeed radio and TV headlines, all screamed ‘Doom and Gloom’

Those unelected boffins in Standard and Poor’s, and Moody’s were outlining society’s descent to a fiery end

At the time Ireland’s credit rating (remember that ?) went from Triple A to something less optimistic. It was headline news across all media, splashed in large font black and white across all newspapers.  What most people didn’t realise at the time, was that Ireland’s Triple A rating was restored a short time later, yet that message was not splashed across the headlines. In one leading Irish newspaper, it was in a side bar on page 16 ! Some might have thought that such good news might require equal treatment

Historically, one phrase has echoed through newsrooms "Good news doesn't sell." It is treated as an immutable law of human behaviour—a simple explanation for why headlines are dominated by crisis, conflict, scandal, and outrage. But the evidence suggests that this mantra is less a fact than a self-fulfilling industry habit. Has anyone actually tried to ‘sell’ good news ? Instead of telling us perhaps that dozens have died in a particularly horrible incident, couldn’t the headline run the story that hundreds were saved ?

We see it every day – we hear it and we read it, but in reality, shouldn’t that be counter intuitive ? Why should we not want to hear good news ? Do we, in fact, want to hear bad news all the time ? Is it the theory that in our little lives, at least we are not being faced with such disaster ?

Sports victories, scientific breakthroughs, acts of extraordinary courage, and, dare I say it, society weddings can often ‘lift the gloom’ but do people think that these are but momentary incidents in an overall depressing saga ?

Ask yourselves – are you happy with the way news is delivered, within these parameters ?

IMHO, good news does sell, its just very few are trying to sell it