Quit giving us bad news...

[Xyster]

Seriously. It seems like every time the so called "experts" predict anything bad happening and forecast it, it only makes things worse. Every day it seems that we are bombarded with more and more bad news from every angle. And heaven help us, if we are lucky, perhaps they'll choose to enlighten us with a slightly uplifting, or slightly less horrible forecast than usual.

Now, I'm not saying that it's good to be ingnorant, not by any means. I just want the people to quit telling everyone to panic, the world is coming to an end...because it seems to me like when they do it gets a lot worse.

For example. People keep going into rants on how the economy is collapsing and everyone pulls money out of the stock market. Someone says that the government is going to bail everyone out and look at that...the stock market shoots up agian, soaring compared to recently. Suddenly there's a little tension as to wether or not the bailout is going to actually be passed and down the stock market goes again.

I'm not an idiot, I know that there are much greater factors at work than just the news and the "experts". I also know this though...telling everyone that everything is getting bad seems to cause things to get worse. I still want to know what's happening, but for the love of all things good, quit guessing that everything is going to get so much worse. I know it will, everyone knows that it will...we don't need your bs opinions and analysis that makes everyone panic every day to know that.

Maybe if someone gave us a few nicer, more upbeat predictions, we could at least have a nicer day. Even if it means having to find something good in what's going on and get off of their lazy, negative butts to find it...I would really like to hear some good news for a change.

Or at least, that's how I see it.

[John Mora]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

But the news isn't really about having a nice day.

[Shard]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

A recent study came out that said a bar of dark chocolate a week is good for your heart. So, there you go. Buy stock in Hershey's. Good for your heart, good for your tongue, Good for America.

[Xyster]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

But the news isn't really about having a nice day.

Which I understand. But I think that's one of the main things wrong with the world right now. With so much bad news happening all over, and everyone knowing that things are going to get worse...I think that everyone needs some good news and good predictions to help out.

I'm tired of everyone predicting horrible things, like when the gas prices were going up and everyone was predicting that it would be over $5.00 everywhere in the US by the end of the year. That made everyone panic.

Now look at the prices...

A recent study came out that said a bar of dark chocolate a week is good for your heart. So, there you go. Buy stock in Hershey's. Good for your heart, good for your tongue, Good for America.

And yeah, even if it's something like that. I would much rather hear about that then a forecast of doom that can't be proven that it will get that bad.
It's sort of a chain of events. They say something's going to get worse, then eveyrone panics, then it does. I'm not saying it wasn't going to get worse to begin with, I'm just saying that it seems to make it even more so than it would have been when everyone panics.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

The stock market crashed today, sending us into a brand new Depression! But in other news, Timmy fell down the well again, and Lassie came to the rescue to the general applause and uplifting spirit of all those in witness. But Lassie was then shot and her fur harvested for the fine dog wool. But LOOK AT HOW NICE PARIS HILTON LOOKS IN HER DOGFUR SHAWL. Oh yeah, she's a tramp and we've all seen her naughty bits. But OH NO ZE MISSILES.

Tell me that's not what the news looks like every day.

[Xyster]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

The stock market crashed today, sending us into a brand new Depression! But in other news, Timmy fell down the well again, and Lassie came to the rescue to the general applause and uplifting spirit of all those in witness. But Lassie was then shot and her fur harvested for the fine dog wool. But LOOK AT HOW NICE PARIS HILTON LOOKS IN HER DOGFUR SHAWL. Oh yeah, she's a tramp and we've all seen her naughty bits. But OH NO ZE MISSILES.

Tell me that's not what the news looks like every day.

It does, and I hate it.

[Chrono]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

I guess I’m a terrible person; I look forward to bad news. Seriously, I enjoy it.

[Magik]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

Well, on the one hand, if informed predictions are "bad" then they just are. The situation won't improve by ignoring bad outcomes when they are probable or by pretending that a good thing might happen when it probably won't.

Still, I agree that the media is a source of bad news in general and that probably has somewhat far reaching effects on how we perceive things, especially global issues where we rely on the media because we're too far removed from another culture to properly evaluate a situation for ourselves.

It's important to be informed about the goings-on around the world, but I think the media tends to relish in breaking horrific or worrisome stories. Naturally, people will pay more attention to something if they can perceive it as a potential personal threat than they will to someone else's fortune. I think respectable journalists need to be more careful, though, about not exaggerating or inserting their own assumptions (or any assumptions, really) into the news. It should be about information, not shock and entertainment.

Shock and entertainment are a hell of a lot more marketable though.

It would be nice to see more coverage on positive advances in society--new breakthroughs in science, medicine, and technology; efforts being made to resolve conflicts; celebrations of role models and more acknowledgement to people who are making positive impacts on the world. As it stands, I tend to just peruse headlines on BBC, New York Times, and Le Monde (and yahoo news because the quality is usually cringe-inducing hilarity), reading things that strike me as significant and passing over others. Critical media literacy is a very important skill-set to develop, I think.

I rarely ever watch TV news, especially since the major news networks began reporting more on entertainment news and the lives of celebrities.

[Shard]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

The problem is that the reporting hasn't changed any. People generally kinda ignore the hysterically-important-thing that you MUST know coming up after the commercial break when times aren't so grim.

It's not the news that's changed, but rather that people are thin-skinned and kinda panicky right now (not without good reason), so I don't know how you can 1) Expect the news media to change overnight when they've finally got something real to report about or 2) Alternatively, ask them to keep quiet about things that have a real impact on our lives.

I'd agree that there's too much idle speculation, but again, not a new development.

[Tintenfisch]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

You want good news? Don't look in the newspaper or watch any programs. people care more or are more interested about the bad news than the good news. Hell, the News was invented for bad news.

And at times, can get even a bit hilarious

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...un-Greece.html

[Xyster]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

I suppose what really gets me about it is that they pass off these speculations as news. They're not news, they're speculations. They're what someone ran some figures on and if everything keeps going like it currently is might happen.
The problem is that things are never consistant, the only constant is that things change. That's probably what gets me the most is that they pass off this horrible news for a couple quick bucks without any thought to what's it's going to do to other people.
Human nature can really suck.

[Tintenfisch]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

News informs. That's it's job. It's million dollar job.

[Alex]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

By predicting the future based on past events and current trends, we are able to change bad habits and learn from mistakes.

[Xyster]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

By predicting the future based on past events and current trends, we are able to change bad habits and learn from mistakes.

I don't really believe that such wisdom applies in this case. They're more just throwing tasty morsels of doom out there to whip everyone up in a frenzy.

Unfortunately, people are to stupid to learn from anything it seems.

A person is smart. People are stupid, panicky animals.

[John Mora]

Re: Quit giving us bad news...

I'm not hearing anything that isn't regurgitated.