The good news effect
www.washingtonpost.com
Seven in 10 Americans suffer from news fatigue. Can happy stories help? (Partner Content)

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.

  •  cura   ( @cura@beehaw.org ) English
    31•1 year ago

    While news outlets are certainly drivers of fatigue, readers are not entirely off the hook. Research shows that negative headlines have more than a 60 percent higher click-through rate than positive ones—à la the old trope, “if it bleeds, it leads.”

    I always feel that there are way more bad news than good news until now. I made a tally of the posts on the homepage of Beehaw right now and registered 14 as positive, 10 as negative, and 15 as neutral wrt my stance. It just seems like I actively focus more on the bad ones. Maybe I will try reading more positive ones.