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• 2006-09-18, 09:51 (trackback)

  Why are the news full of bad news?

  1. I think it ‘cuz of a thing called money…
     The money lies in the ratings and bad news always give good ratings.
     I think we should all get rid of money, life would be quite pleasent without it… errrr, maybe…

     Posted by: Gustavo Carreno | September 19, 2006 at 00:37

  2. I have a theory that states in a nutshell:

     Bad news is more useful than good news as bad news (incoming meteor, imminent war etc etc) will kill you outright, whereas good news (attractive women, cheap goods) will only help you for a brief time, and then only depending on your circumstance. You find that bad news is universally more valued in all countries, cultures and religions. I’ve never seen this stated in a social psychology textbook – its my own private theory…

     Joel Harper

     Posted by: Joel Harper | September 20, 2006 at 22:04

  3. Because bad news makes people feel more self righteous, smarter and better about themselves. If it is happening to someone else not them…it’s because they are way to special for something like that to happen. Of course, if the bad news IS effecting them directly, they are even more interested.

     When good news strikes though, jealousy can kick in on some level and viewers feel worse about themselves. “Why can’t that be me”. So people generally only want good news (unless it’s super uplifting good news) when it happens to them directly.

     That, or the media is driven by satan!

     Posted by: Zack Jenks | September 22, 2006 at 18:12

  4. The theorie Joel Harper stated could be very much true, if you look at things from a biology point of view. E few eons ago, the good news was there were beautiful women all over the place; the bad news was you never could be able to reap the results because a lion is about to eat you…

     What’s more important?

     Bad news is a sign, a feedback, something which usually says: Shit happens, you’d better learn from it, which increases your lifespan.

     Bad news is that as long as humans aren’t perfect, bad news will keep coming. Good news is that you could always change career, become a journalist. There’s always new news.

     Posted by: Joshua Angnoe | September 24, 2006 at 23:34

  5. Because (here in America anyway) we live in a culture of fear, and fear makes it easier to control people.

     Posted by: nate | December 30, 2006 at 20:08

  6. To distract civils from the reals problems of each country and their politics.

     Posted by: Pinholecam | August 22, 2007 at 18:19

  7. Or maybe worse….IF only where good news, it could mean that the country is going sooooooooo bad.

     Posted by: Pinholecam | August 22, 2007 at 18:23

  8. Is the news really full of bad news, or is it just a stereotype?

     Do yourself a favor, test whether the bad news is really that bad.

     Count columns in a newspaper (the whole newspaper, including ads) and then calculate how much bad news there really is.

     Time the news on tv, measuring how long the inserts on bad news really is…

     Posted by: WingMan | January 03, 2008 at 17:38

  9. @WingMan: Thanks for your comment!

     I think it depends on the sections of the newspaper. If I look at the section about foreign countries, so it is dominated by reports about conflicts and catastrophes. But if I look at the local section, then there are much less bad news, maybe some car accidents or housebreakings.

     On the other hand I would guess that around 3/4 of the time of the news on TV are about bad news (and it was the reason I stopped to watch them on TV).

     But of course it also depends on your own definition of “bad” news.

     Posted by: Daniel Hofstetter | January 05, 2008 at 10:55
  
  

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