I saw a comment this morning lamenting the imbalance of positive and negative news content that we are given.
There are scientific studies (Negativity drives online news consumption) that show this type of content generates higher engagement. So whether news organisations are aware of their editorial direction or not, the clicks that drive the content they publish push them into this space.
I am not suggesting we stop discussing the important serious issues of the day.
Though, I will be actively trying to share more positive articles with you all going forward and I encourage you to join me.
I claim this is at least partially because people look for good news:
Generally, if the news is already good, we’re often satisfied with reading the title. If the news is bad, we go into the article to look for a silver lining.