The Carter Family E ditors operate in the face of persistent criticism that what we report is too negative, too dark, too pessimistic. Cries are constant that our world needs more good news. I've heard this argument from family, professional colleagues, public affairs officers, business people, strangers in a subway conversation, chaplains and, most recently, from a Navy captain. Just a mention of the key word conjures images of sailors, Marines, soldiers and students at a military academy making negative news. Certainly that's not what the military services and the schools that provide many of their officers are all about.
Civilians level similar charges against the media.
A typical complaint is that we overemphasize stories focussing on violence and crime. It's not that simple. Let me examine the criticism and journalism's defense by taking a recent big story and emphasizing an important point about the nature of news in general and so-called good news in particular. It's probably good news to a Boeing stockholder in Seattle, but it may provide bad news to an assembly-line worker at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. For the stockholder, the merger probably means greater earnings.