Bill Ralston: Journalists and bad news

And now for some bad news…

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26th May, 2012

Why is the news always bad? Why can’t the media report good news? Why are you journalists so negative about everything? These were the commonest complaints I got when I worked in the media. My reply was usually to the effect that, despite what they might say, people wanted to read bad news and a newspaper or news bulletin that carried only good news and happy stories would send the business’s owner bankrupt within a month. Now that I’m out of the trade, I’m finding the unremitting negativity of the media a bit of a pain, too. After I’ve scanned the country’s papers and news bulletins, ...

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