Content on the media such as television or newspapers are regulated mainly by news editors. I believe that their decisions are made mainly based on popularity. In addition, nowadays, media seems to contend lots of unpleasant news, increasing more good news would be a positive change as will be discussed in this essay.
In my opinion, stories on the news are chosen based on many factors, however, the most important and influential one is popularity. The more popular the news is, the more attention will be gained from audience, which leads to a better income. For example, on Youtube, an channel owner will receive money every time his/her videos get played. A broadcasting company thus make more money this way by increasing more views.
Given that the number of views reflects a company’s revenue, bad news is often used to draw attention from listeners. For instance, when a crime is reported, people will instantly check where it happens to confirm that where they live are safe and their friends and relatives are not effected from the event. However, I do not agree that this will make people familiar with bad news but rather overwhelms people too much. In addition, more pleasant news would provide positive feelings to audience.
To conclude, attention from audience is the main factor broadcasting companies use to choose what to be reported. This often makes bad stories get over-reported which does not make people get used to bad news but upsets them instead. By thinking less on profits and broadcasting more good stories would make our society a better place.
