06-Apr-2005
Let me start by saying i'm not some pollyanna guy who looks at the world through rose colored glasses and believes that everything is sweetness and light.
Nope. I've seen everything you've seen in the news, and the world is in a pretty messy condition right now. War in Iraq, 9-11, terrorism, serial killers, high gas prices, screwed up politics and politicians, home prices out of sight,murder trials, and all the rest of the doom and gloom the news media pumps out 24-7.
35 years ago, it wasn't a whole lot different. When I published the 'World's First Good News Newspaper' THE GOOD NEWS PAPER. Back then we had the Vietnam war, riots on college campuses,rampant drug use, and crime stories galore.
So why bother to look for good news? According to the media, no one wants it, no one reads it or watches it, and besides, there isn't much of it. To them, its all about ratings and circulation and advertising sales. And one thing is certain...'bad news' sells!
Now don't get me wrong when I diss the media in general. I'm not talking about individual reporters who gather the news. I'm talking about the decision makers in the media who decide for all of us what news we will read about or see! You have to understand that the media is like a giant fishing net in the ocean. They catch all the fish, then decide which ones are edible.
Unfortunately, to them the edible 'fish' are primarily the ones that give the rest of us indigestion, but are big profit makers for them. If you can picture sharks as the 'bad news' and tuna as the 'good news', then you can see that we are getting a heavy diet of sharks, and very little tuna.
So what happens to the 'good news' they gather in their nets? Oh some of it gets published alright, but more often than not, its assigned to the intern, or the new reporter to give them practice for the bread and butter stories of death, destruction and doom..i.e., the 'hard news'!
These stories are most often buried behind the lead stories on the news channels, or ignored, or on page 20 of the newspaper, or given bad headlines, and not much good writing either, so we don't hear or see or read them, even if we are lucky enough to find them in the first place.
An example of this kind of oversight on the part of the news media is one of my favorite stories. In October of 1994 there was a killing in New York city of a 14 year old boy by two teenagers. That story lead the newspapers and TV news for days and days. And yes, it was a tragedy, and it was news.
But, on that very same weekend an event on the cable channel Nickolodeon was taking place that should also have made that same front page and lead story on the news.
That weekend in 1994, Nickolodeon launched its first annual "Big Help" telethon. The idea was to get kids from 6-14 who watch Nickolodeon to call in and pledge some of their time to work in their communities with volunteer groups...a way to teach them the value of volunteerism.
No one at Nickolodeon could foresee the results, for after all, there were no prizes being offered, just an opportunity to pledge some time to help people in their town.
The calls poured in during the 12 hour telethon. At the end, nearly five million kids had pledged over thirty-one MILLION hours of volunteer community service.
Did this story make any headlines? Should it have? Of course it should have. What a tremendous balancing story to place alongside the story of the killing of a 14-year old.
Where did I find this story? It was a one paragraph item under 'TV Notes' in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee.
I use that story when I talk to high school journalism classes to illustrate that good news is important, and too often is misplaced, or not given the prominence it deserves, thus depriving us of a true balanced view of the world around us.
This newsletter will be devoted to the bright side of our world, our nation, and our community. And yes, it will also be used to promote the sale of my upcoming updated editions of America's Good News Almanac.
There are more stories of hope, heart and heroes than there ever will be of death, destruction and doom. My mission is to bring some balance to the daily onslaught of our problems. In our everyday lives we don't dwell forever on our problems and our setbacks, we move on, we celebrate our own good news, a birth, a graduation, a promotion, a marriage.
Life is like a balance sheet. If we don't know what our assets are we can't do anything about our liabilities.
The asset side of the news balance sheet are the stories of progress, growth, achievment and theh solutions to problems.
Finally, a personal word about myself. Since starting the Good News Paper 35 years ago, and getting my America's Good News Almanac published by Simon and Schuster's Pocket Books in 1996, I've given up on ever talking about good news again dozens of times.
I've suffered chronic depression, and thankfully, after being ashamed of having it, got treatment for it. I've started businesses that have been successful, and I've fallen on my but and lost everything I had. I've cussed out stories on the news numerous times, and bought into the fact that the world sucks too...even said," what's the use of trying to promote good news again..".
In fact, i've even vowed i'd never get involved in being 'The Good News Newsman' again because I had lost confidence in myself and gotten into the habit of thinking negative and almost giving up on writing anything at all.
I'm sharing this with you because I think all of us go through problems and doubts and fears, and sometimes in our complicated world we doubt our value in it.
For me, my 'comeback' is owed to my family and friends who have never stopped believing in me and loving me and encouraged me.
My wife of 43 years, Kathy, who has never ever failed to be at my side, despite my many failures, and the many times i've lost our life savings over a dream, or an idea that didn't work.
My family, 5 children, 11 grandchildren, who show me every day of my life that the biggest accomplishment of my life is being a dad and a grandpa.
My promise to you in this newsletter will be to always keep it positive..and uplifting, and yes, some good news stories too. After all, I want you to buy my good news book when it comes out in audio, ebook and paperback in the next few months, and I'll do my best to sell you on it!
My real hope though is that all of you will take a look around you and find the positive things that happen every day everywhere in this wonderful world of ours, and spread those stories, get excited about finding the rose among the thorns, and remember that we can't change what happens but we can change how we perceive it. Dr. Wayne Dyer said it best in his new book, The Power of Intention...he said: "Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.".
Have a Good News day!
Bill Bailey
