Nowadays, the news is almost exclusively full of negative reporting, such as violent crime, fraud, etc. and some feel such horror-news is counter productive to the positive development of a healthy society. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement. And how should the media report the news?
No one can refute the fact that almost all news stories being broadcast or published are full of negativity, if not full of tears and blood. Critics believe such phenomenon is detrimental to society. It is my personal view that this criticism is erroneous.
People who hold the belief that bad news is harmful to the public often base such belief on an assumption that reporting negative news would somehow create more sad stories. They worry that some people might mimick and re-enact terrorist attacks after seeing similar horrific incidents on the news. Thus, they encourage news outlets to report more good and joyful news instead.
What these people neglect is the principle of non-censored and unbiased reporting. If journalists do their jobs impartially, they naturally and inevitably have to make all the important and worth-knowing stories available to the general public which, unfortunately, are mostly negative news. In fact, society receives tremendous benefits in the long run from negative news.
It is often said that people learn from their mistakes. It is very true about all the negative news stories. Only when the public is aware of bad news, can measures be taken to avoid dangers and carry out necessary improvements. The recent water lead-contamination scandal exemplifies this notion. Only after the first report about testing positive for lead in tap water in public housing, did people and the government begin to come up with different strategies to avoid intaking and consuming contaminated water, to instal filters, to screen out toxic chemicals and heavy metal, and to replace the evil plumbing systems. Without knowing this, many vulnerable children and seniors would still be drinking contaminated water every day. In addition, numerous policy changes are put forwards because of traggic news. For example, the government has tightened the criminal laws after a series of reports on cyber crimes and drunk driving. The occurance of such criminal acts has thus declined.
All in all, negative news does not actually harm the society but actually acts as a catalyst for crucial improvements. It is hoped that journalists continue their impartial way of reporting and, thus, create opportunities for the society to excel even further.
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