Why is the news so depressing?

Padre_Pio · 16-12-2022 9:00pm #1

I was driving today and got the hourly news bulletin on 2FM.

Of the five stories, one was a fire and subsequent deaths in Paris, second was a murder of an Irish soldier, third was the death of a child in England, four was the arrest of a murderer for some historic crime, five was the cabinet reshuffle.

A quick scan of theJournal is the same. Murders, arrests, sex offences, racism charges and the odd sports or politics story.

Seriously, what public interest is served by reporting on such depressing stories that have no benefit to the average person? For all the talk of maintaining positive mental health, there is constant doom and gloom in news media.

Doom and gloom politics, or economics can at least service as a public service announcement to a certain extent, but the rest is just gratuitous. There is no public benefit to hourly updates on deaths in a fire in France, or children falling through ice in Birmingham.

Why do they do it? There are hundreds of fantastic achievements every day that get no air time at all.

buried · 16-12-2022 9:05pm

If you are still willingly listening to the likes of 2fm on the regular then you deserve everything you get from them.

Larbre34 · 16-12-2022 9:18pm

Fantastic achievements sell no newspapers, or advertising slots on TV News channels.

If you find a typical day's news depressing, I suggest you turn it off.

Jequ0n · 16-12-2022 9:33pm

None of these stories sound depressing but potentially interesting.

Jim_Hodge · 16-12-2022 9:34pm

Research has shown that people pay more attention to bad news than good and this drives media coverage. There are some evolutionary reasons as to why negativity bias exists, the scientists pointed out. For one thing, it can be much riskier to ignore negative information (a storm is coming) than good news (a dog rescued a boy from a tree). Paying attention to negative news, the researchers said, is generally an effective survival strategy. They claimed there are some evolutionary reasons as to why negativity bias exists. For one thing, it can be much riskier to ignore negative information (a storm is coming) than good news (a dog rescued a boy from a tree). Paying attention to negative news, the researchers said, is generally an effective survival strategy.

Ubbquittious · 16-12-2022 9:36pm

People buy into the news stories more if they are gloomy. If it's any consolation to you the they are frequently exaggerated and filled with half truths. Facts that put a damper on the gloominess are frequently left out in order to let the imagination run wild.

Padre_Pio · 16-12-2022 9:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120005424#Comment_120005424

Constant coverage of death, murders, rapes and exploitation is interesting?

I would call it depressing. Time to switch off if this is all that mainstream channels can offer.

xxxxxxl · 16-12-2022 9:56pm

What ever happened to regional news. 24 hour news channels are available now for international stuff. I would prefer RTE to focus on regional/Ireland and on the 24 hour channel international. You cant move for Something happening not in Ireland and not even in the North. I really don't know why they present something happening in America like it's going to happen in Ireland like Roe vs wade. I really don't want to hear some Jurno crying over this issue when It has completely nothing to do with Ireland.

JupiterKid · 17-12-2022 3:01pm

Bad news sells, simple as that.

That’s the unfortunate truth and it has always been so as long as I can remember. Wars, murder, rapes, crime, genocide, environmental destruction, economic worries, disease, and on and on it goes...

It is indeed very depressing and one of the reasons why I now limit my exposure to the news. Tony Quinn said it well years ago that reading or watching too much news is very bad for one’s mental health.