In most media houses, the decision of what content is to be broadcasted on TV or printed in daily newspapers lies squarely in the hands of
editors. Criteria and
as attention-worthiness, political relevance and sensationalism largely influence these decisions. As it is mostly bad
that fits into these criteria, we tend to get used to bad
because of the frequency of it being broadcast. In my opinion, more good
should be reported, even if it's only for the sake of balance and the psychological effect.
Amongst the key mandates of
editors is the mandate to increase the reach of the TV station or the number of buyers of the newspaper.
,
as political relevance, attention-worthiness, and sensationalism which guarantee an increase in followers of a
platform become metrics that influence the decision of what makes it to the
.
is seen in the disparity in follower numbers of platforms that report more politically relevant
versus those who report on general
, with the former having four times more followers than the latter on average.
, in 2019 CNN had an average of 200,000 daily watchers
KNBC had 45,000 daily watchers.
considered as bad
mostly fit into the previously listed influencing metrics for
selection and as
tend to feature more often than good
. Naturally, we become used to things that we encounter more frequently, in
case, bad
. A study carried out by Harvard University’s psychology department which tracked
content across 10
stations over the course of one year showed that bad
occurred in a 20 to 1 ratio to good
.
high frequency of bad
has made humans become used to and anticipate bad
.
psychologists, good
tends to have great psychological effects on listeners and readers compared to bad
. It is
reason
for the sake of balance that I believe that the more good
is reported, the better it is for our society.
editors should be encouraged to seek out and report more good
for its psychological effects on our society.
In conclusion,
as attention-worthiness, political relevance and sensationalism are key influences on the decision of what makes it to print and TV. With bad
fitting these
more than good
, its frequency outnumbers that of good
and
, we get used to bad
.
, for its psychological effects and for balance, it would benefit society if more good
is reported.