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I had a thoughtful conversation recently with a reader who was concerned about negative news and how it affects the community. This is a concern for the Star, naturally, because on the one hand we try to report the news accurately and completely, but on the other hand we are a part of the community and don't want to cause it harm.

We were discussing a mostly joyful event in which one negative thing had happened in a big way. The reader was concerned that the negative thing not be given undue attention. In other words, "bad news sells, good news is boring," so the media concentrate on bad news. I think it is fair to say that most consumers feel that way about most news outlets.

One of my pet peeves about the major news outlets is the way they give titles and theme songs to news items. Watch any of the major news networks on television and you know what I mean. It is as if they are making a movie out of life.

In my view that diminishes the importance of the news because hyperbole implies that you are making more of something than there is. It is disrespectful to the subject of the news and also, I think, makes the assumption that viewers are too dumb to get it unless you make it ultra-show-bizzy. This is just an extension of the "bad news sells, good news is boring" syndrome. Make it as bad as possible and as flashy as possible and these television bozos think they have something the public will pay attention to.

I think that real life is interesting enough on its own, and I try to report events as they happen with as little spin as possible. But that doesn't mean that when bad news happens that it shouldn't be reported.

What it does means is that all news, good or bad, should be reported, but in context. The negative part of this particular event was not the main thrust of what this event's news was. During the actual event it was disturbing and nobody could miss it. But in the context of the event, what led up to it and its outcome the incident takes on less overall importance. In a story it should be mentioned, but not so that it overshadows the rest of the news coming out of that event.

My hope is that news reported in this fashion doesn't harm the community, and that if it has any effect at all will help the community understand the issues in public news events. Respectfully, without titles or theme songs.

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v1i12

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