Balancing Negative News Reporting: Promoting the Good

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With the present tumult, upheaval, and violence in the United States, this may not seem like the right time to send out this message, but we do firmly believe at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard that focusing the mind on what is good, and the ensuing actions that promote good, is deeply needed to address what is wrong with the world and to promote global well-being.

We recently published an article entitled, “A Public Health Approach to Negative News Media: The 3-to-1 Solution.” This article proposes that news media outlets commit to reporting at least one piece of positive news on good actions that make the world better for every three pieces of negative news. The article proposes, moreover, that viewers should only connect with news media that make a commitment to doing so.

The article points to substantial evidence that suggests viewing or witnessing a positive or altruistic event makes it more likely that a person will undertake a subsequent altruistic action. Conversely, viewing a negative event perpetuates negative actions. While the effect for any individual instance of media exposure is small, this effect is dramatically multiplied by the vast number of people viewing media and the contagion that follows. We suggest that public health implications could thus be massive.

Compounding this problem further, news media tend to have more viewers when they report on negative events because people are frightened. Since news outlets have an incentive to increase viewership, this has created a situation where most news is negative. We believe this comes with a severe cost to individuals and to society.

Within our present context of COVID-19, and the yet further unrest surrounding the death of George Floyd, this may seem like an odd time to release this message. Our paper was in fact submitted last fall. It was scheduled for release in March, right around the time it became evident that COVID-19 was going to have a major impact throughout the entire world. We therefore requested that the journal postpone its release, which they were willing to do. The article was in the end published just last week, as had been arranged … though now amidst the very sad and tragic death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. Surely, then, this is the wrong time to release such a "thought piece" ... or is it?

Undoubtedly, what took place ought not to have occurred. Justice is demanded. Reforms are very much needed. The anger and indignation is clearly understandable. But what should the response then be? Is the ensuing looting, destruction, and further violence by some the best way forward? Is this another example of how one atrocious act can lead to many others, and which may be further amplified by media?

Terrence Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, while undoubtedly suffering severely from the loss of his brother, nevertheless, commented this week concerning his brother and the violence: “He was about peace, he was about unity … the ripping up, the damaging your hometown: It’s not the way he would want ... That's not what my brother was about.”

Negative news reporting is necessary. It is necessary to bring awareness to society’s ills and problems and to create the motivation and will to have them addressed. And our article acknowledges this. But we also need examples of actions that are positive, that build and show love and forgiveness, and that do so even in the midst of violence. In the words of Terrence Floyd, we need to “do something positive or make a change another way.”

Thus, in addition to covering the protests, media outlets could also present examples of efforts to improve schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, of volunteering within communities, and of contexts in which race relations are working well; and, along with advocating for much-needed police reforms, media could additionally advocate for community support of police, many of whom are truly trying to do their jobs well.

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This is not a setting aside of justice. Justice can be pursued without perpetuating further violence towards others. Seeking justice is compatible with love, and the seeking of the ultimate good of the other. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive… Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

We each need to be a part of the process that King describes: seeking to promote actions that are good and implementing the demands of justice in love. And for this, we need the assistance of one another, and we also need the assistance of the media, in its traditional forms and in social media.

In order to encourage a shift in the media landscape, we argue that people should turn their attention to media outlets that help promote this seeking of the good and abandon those media venues that do not. Negative media reporting is necessary, but it also needs to be balanced in reporting that promotes the seeking of the good of others.

This need for a change of focus is true even in our present circumstances. It is true amidst the atrocities that have recently occurred. It is true amidst the havoc that has been created by COVID-19 wherein repeated media exposure leads to increased anxiety, heightened stress, and adverse effects on health. It is true during the present upheaval with its contagion of violence and hatred.

We need the reporting of what is good. We also need justice. We need love for one another and the seeking of the ultimate good of the other.

And we need the media to assist in that task.

Our proposal is simple. It is a call for news outlets to, at a minimum, report one positive story for every three negative stories. It is also a call for viewers to do their part by giving their attention to media venues that do so. This will facilitate the seeking of what is good and actions that promote love and goodness in the lives of others. This realignment is not to the neglect of justice, but rather always with the aim of bringing about peace, as Terrence believed his brother, George Floyd, would have wanted.

The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science aims to study and promote human flourishing, and to develop systematic approaches to the synthesis of knowledge across disciplines. You can sign up here for a monthly research e-mail from the Human Flourishing Program, or click here to follow us on Twitter. For past postings please see our Psychology Today Human Flourishing Blog.