Read what’s good for you

We spend a lot of time thinking about our daily diet and what contributes to good health. There is increasing awareness and acceptance of the benefits of plant-based foods and the environmental impacts of large-scale livestock farming.

But apart from considering what we put into our stomachs, how much time do we spend ruminating on what we put into our heads, particularly in terms of the news?

Not nearly enough, says Jodie Jackson, an author, researcher and partner at The Constructive Journalism Project, which offers media training and research on the impacts of journalism.

Jackson is the author of a new book, “You Are What You Read: Why Changing Your Media Diet Can Change the World,” which suggests that a daily regime of negative, overly simplistic, dubiously sourced news is as bad for your health as a fast-food diet.

She’s not advocating that the news media focus on nothing but Good Samaritan and kitten rescue stories. Far from it. In fact, she makes the case that reporting negative stories is often the first step towards affecting real change in society.

“Exposing problems and challenging injustice through news reporting has been vital in helping us understand, confront and correct them,” she writes.

“It is by engaging with a problem that we can begin to solve it; this is what has enabled society to progress. This kind of reporting has righted many wrongs, kept people safe and created legislation for our betterment.”

Think of local stories like the constituency allowance spending scandal, for example, where some politicians’ extravagant use of public money would very likely not have gone unchecked if it hadn’t been reported. Or the revelations (when they finally came) that children were being sexually and physically abused by Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, which prompted public outrage, a loss of religious faith for some, and a commission of inquiry, and you get an idea of the impact that reporting negative stories can have.

But Jackson makes the point that journalism is an effective tool for suggesting solutions as well as highlighting problems.

She says that while consuming a media diet heavily laced with negativity and cynicism can cause people to feel powerless, pessimistic, depressed and even fearful, stories that offer ways to improve a situation can “bring about the benefits of better balance and perspective, increased levels of hope and optimism… improved mood and an increased motivation to participate constructively in society.”

It makes sense that consuming a balanced diet of news would improve your general well-being. Think about the ways positive local stories make you feel — stories about children donating their birthday money to help somebody else, an empty bus depot being transformed into a bustling farmers’ market, or Project Kindness volunteers shovelling driveways in winter. Stories like these might well inspire you to do your own good deeds or come up with a solution to a community problem.

Jackson also argues for more depth in journalism, and less of the media’s tendency to frame things in simple black and white. In other words, consumers of news need more fibre.

“If we are able to transcend the immediate pleasure we get from reading about the latest scandal and recognise that we need better quality information along with more variety in our diet — including solutions-focused news — we will have the power to force this kind of journalism into the mainstream through our consumer demand for it,” she writes.

She urges readers and viewers to demand better quality journalism and to be prepared to pay for it.

“If quality journalism — which relies on expertise, fact checking, investigation, time and resources — disappears,” Jackson writes, “then we are all in trouble.”

For anyone with an interest in the media, “You Are What You Read” is an insightful analysis of news coverage, how it affects us and how we hold the power to shape it; as consumers, we need not passively react to it, we can actively influence what gets reported.

And in this time of hidden agendas, fake news and doctored videos, news sources you can trust are more important than ever.

Bon appétit.

Pam Frampton is The Telegram’s managing editor. Email pamela.frampton@thetelegram. com. Twitter: pam_frampton