[LINK] Negative News Articles (Beware the Ides of March sayeth the Soothsayer.)

[Tom Koltai]

News has always been treated as a form of entertainment for the masses
as an adjunct to the value of advertisers that a publisher can harvest.

Whatever one thinks about Nuclear power, it is a truism that coverage of
incidents like the shutdown (and not meltdown) of the nuclear reactors
are an excellent opportunity to sell more papers.

For example, Google has at  (13:49 EST Au) - 1801 Real time search
results for Japanese nuclear plant
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=japanese+nuclear+plant&hl=en&client=f
irefox-a&hs=Qqf&sa=G&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&prmd=ivnsu
&source=univ&tbs=mbl:1&ei=xtN-Tbe9AYm8vQO-0ZTSBw&ved=0CCIQ8QkoAzAA>  

331 results for Meltdown. 331 related articles
<http://news.google.com.au/news/story?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:e
n-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=japanese+nuclear+plant&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl
=deRANpELgXhxoSMwad6GsOrflYGQM&ei=xtN-Tbe9AYm8vQO-0ZTSBw&sa=X&oi=news_re
sult&ct=more-results&resnum=3&ved=0CDEQqgIwAg>  

The Nuclear lobby will take at least 12 years to recover from this bout
of "story-telling/newspaper selling/advertising spruiking."

I say, how about we have less "Headlines" and more positive news.

Production today from the number two mine is up 35%.
Number three mine is installing a new conveyor belt so that production
can increase.
The chocolate ration will increase today by 8%. Chocolate bars will go
from 33% of their original size to 25% of their original size. [Cheer
now!!!]

And.

Australian Manufacturing recently (2003) received an economic boost as
Four N' Twenty Pies  returned to the "Australian owned Club"
http://www.fourntwenty.com.au/

Why is it that we prefer watching body parts flying around the screen in
a train wreck rather than a feel good story about Jake the dog with a
prosthetic leg.

A challenge to all Reporters.

>From now until the end of March write only positive stories about the
economy.  Don't dismiss out of hand or put down one solitary company or
entrepreneur. 
Every Australian company and entrepreneur that is having a go deserves
journalistic support.
After all, without the money that the employees of Aussie companies
receive, who the hell is going to buy newspapers ?

Let's all do a Kevin Rudd.....  "There is no reason why any Australian
should feel the need to stock up on canned goods in the supermarkets"
(April 2009).
He proved it was possible and was probably responsible for turning
around the entire global economy (with the only positive growth 2nd
quarter announced worldwide).

Talking about radiation levels rising 'considerably' doesn't help the
Australian economy one iota. (Oh yeah, it might get a couple of hundred
click thrus"; but as far as the Oz GDP is concerned, that's a joke, not
a sustainable business model.)