Member-only story
The News: “What a World! What a World!”
We can handle the truth!
My late friend Chris Saunders, a brilliant TV journalist, once explained the mantra of local news: “If It Bleeds It Leads!” However, I am afraid if he was alive today, he would not limit that expression to regional news outlets. Each morning the “headline news” is melodramatically summed up by the grim-faced hosts for the crack-of-dawn shows. They rehash what the evening news already terrorized the public with:
WAR IN UKRAINE! TORNADOS AND FLOODS SWEEP ACROSS THE PLAINS! WATER CONTAMINATED WITH LEAD! WILDFIRES DESTROY THOUSANDS OF ACRES! CLIMATE THREATENED! POLITICIANS FIGHTING OVER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE! EARTHQUAKES KILL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS! INFLATION EVERYWHERE! RECESSION EMINENT! AND FANS ARE IN AN UPROAR BECAUSE THEY CAN’T GET TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS!
If you missed the morning anthem, don’t worry. It will be repeated on the evening news watch. The difference from week to week, month to month, and year to year seems to blur. No wonder 45% of Americans simply don’t watch the national news — at least the generations that follow mine. I’m a Baby Boomer.
I am not alone in my concern about the negativity of the news cycle. Mark Steenwyk, PsyD. agrees, ”If you’re like me, you probably have a tough time turning on the news these days. Everywhere you look, we are being bombarded with…
