Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

NOW, I know I’m a grouch mouse, a good one at that.

But working in this business can be downright annoying and, at times, disheartening.

People think that as someone who has only ever worked in media (one day that might change), I would be used to criticism of a certain type.

Turns out they’re very wrong. I always shake my head whenever I hear somebody say there’s no good news in the papers or on TV.

I do a little more than just shake my head whenever they say that the media “doesn’t like” good news.

The thing is, after hearing this horse manure for so many years, you’d think I would be immune to it by now.

But, alas, it appears I need another injection of whatever vaccine cures the unfortunate disease I have of giving a damn.

Recently, the murders and abductions have made for grim reading. But guess what? People want to read it.

They want to upset their stomachs, and send their blood pressure through the roof. That’s the only conclusion I can come to.

I totally understand why some people prefer to disconnect from the entire world and just live an almost hermit-like existence.

MEK UP UNNU MIND

But at the same time, if the media doesn’t report on certain things, it is chastised for not doing its job. Mek up unnu blooming mind!

Any media house, whether one of long-standing or some hurry-come-up website, has to maximise the news of the day.

So if the news of the day is that more money get tief from someweh, or another body was found, people expect that to be foremost in the newscast or at the front of the paper, or first off the online cache.

If it’s not, they question, rather loudly, why that is not the case.

And then when the ‘lighter’ or more uplifting stuff comes on, they’ve already moved on to something else because they have the attention span of a flipping mosquito.

For print, it’s no different. ‘Nice’ stories are always there to be found, but people want whatever is the talking point.

A quick perusal of what stories people are reading online (stories posted from the print) will show you that.

So when I hear readers talk about there’s no good news, that, quite frankly, is not true. Not. Even. Close! What they need to do is simply read the entire product.

That’s why we print all those flipping pages. And don’t give me this thing about they have no time.

Everything is digital these days, and the same people who won’t go looking for good news, especially online, are the same ones who will binge watch Game Of Thrones and whatever other show is the flavour of the month.

For the record, Jamaicans don’t even know what they want to read, watch, or hear.

I knew that from my university days. People would constantly say there’s nothing in the papers today; but ask what they want to see, you barely get a coherent sentence.

It made me grin then, downright annoys me now. KMT. (Sigh, OK, I’m done now).