No joy in being the bearer of bad news
Bad news draws your attention even as many of you say you wish our profession would champion more “good news.”
During my long career in journalism, readers often accuse me of peddling bad news just to sell newspapers — or now, to get more “clicks” online.
Guilty as charged, dear readers, and you are my willing accomplices. Bad news draws your attention — violence, conflict, natural disasters — even as many of you say in letters and emails that you wish our profession would champion more “good news.”
I have been thinking about this contradiction as the year comes to a close, because as USA TODAY’s world news editor, I have overseen a tragic series of stories in 2015: From the terrorist attacks in Paris to the destruction of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, from the devastating earthquake in Nepal to the drowning deaths of refugees desperate to escape wars in the Middle East.
I take no pleasure in assigning and editing these stories. To the contrary, they break my heart over and over again. Yet these stories must be told. Any hope of fighting evil forces in the world, rallying support for victims after a disaster or even prodding dip- lomatic solutions to conflicts depends on news organizations such as USA TODAY to cast a bright light on these horrific events.
Consider one example that produced a positive result: The shocking photo of a toddler’s lifeless body that washed ashore in Turkey struck such a strong emotional chord that it galvanized world leaders to do more to help war refugees.
These are the stories that draw you in, dear readers.
The most-read foreign news stories on our website this year included the massacre Nov. 13 in Paris and the attack in January on the satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo in Paris, the Nepal earthquake, the Russian jet crash in Egypt, plus major terrorist attacks elsewhere around the world, from Thailand and Tunisia to Somalia and the Sinai Peninsula. Almost anything about the brutal Islamic State was well-read, too.
I also make a point of running “feel good” stories you want. But those rarely make our list of topviewed news of the day.
An article about a school program that teaches young Israeli and Palestinian children about peaceful coexistence was far less popular than one about how Palestinian teens use social media to incite more knife attacks against Israelis. A story about the U.S. Air Force’s annual Operation Christmas Drop program to deliver toys and other gifts to isolated islands in Micronesia was less popular than stories about U.S. military operations against the Islamic State extremists in Iraq. News about the spreading Ebola epidemic in West Africa was far more popular than stories about the region becoming Ebola-free.
There are some bad news sto- ries I haven’t run. One was how depressing Bethlehem had become at Christmastime because violence in the region scared away tourists and dampened residents’ spirits. The rationale for not running the story: We ran similar pieces in 2013 and 2014, so I did not consider this to be “news.”
Instead, USA TODAY ran a story about a post office in a German village where volunteers answer hundreds of thousands of letters written to Santa by children from around the world. It didn’t get much “traffic” on our website.
One reason we may be more interested in bad news — rather than good — is because terrible events usually have greater consequence. Peace in the world allows us to keep living just as we are now. Terrorist attacks, violent weather events, outbreaks of war can threaten our daily routines, prompt us to pressure political leaders to respond or tap our humanitarian instincts to help.
Those are powerful consequences of publishing “bad news.” And like the case of the drowned toddler, the impact can lead to “good news” outcomes.
My New Year’s resolution is to look harder for positive stories you keep requesting. I hope your resolution is to read them.