Nowadays, it is so commonplace to hear about the latest shooting or traumatic event that has just occurred on a daily basis. We come downstairs in the morning with our cup of coffee and turn on the news channel to see flashing lights, caution tape and chaos across the screen. It feels like the only news covered on television is just the immensely tragic events with mass deaths. The negative outcomes bombard the people with those chilling statistics, but ironically they always want to hear more.
The question is why; why do only these stories get the press and popularity? Where’s all the good in the world? Justifying by the content in our daily news cycle one might wonder if there is even any good news to report on.
There are two reasons; one being the large amount of crime and death in our current society and on our streets, even in the small secluded, and “safe” country towns. The other reason is that these stories are what people love to watch or hear about, ironically. The media puts out what gets most popularity and to engage the people on what they want to consume.
Some of the unreported news represents positives that people have to give. The world today is not just about deaths and destruction, but can be about charities and helping one another.
Why do we love to see the stories that are only about death and destruction when in reality all it does is promote more chaos and problems; is it that we enjoy seeing the death numbers rocket and seeing our fellow Americans pain onscreen? The media almost feels the need to publicize every death on screen for the whole world to see. The commonness of these deplorable events takes away the severity of the suffering and causes it to be second nature to see these cataclysms everywhere you turn.
One example of these positive events is the nonprofit Global Citizen Festival, which was not publicized through the news or media. This is a music festival that happens every year, and this year 60,000 people gathered on New York City’s Central Park lawn. This event is much more than just another festival with celebrities and singers, but a take to action to make a change for the world’s current and future problems.
This charity event gave thousands of free tickets away to participants who follow certain steps. These steps include signing petitions, sending informative emails, tweeting or directly calling businesses and leaders, and volunteering for charities. Once all the steps have been taken, the person is put into the drawing to win the free tickets. The main goal of this festival is to take action towards ending poverty, improving the planet, and making all these issues in the world known and relevant.
This year, many celebrities and bands who donated to this charity sang and made appearances including Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Ariana Grande, Michelle Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio and many more.
On the Global Citizen website, there are many informational videos and links and available donations on many concerning topics in the world today, such as health, sanitation, environment, and education. The plan to action against these issues is signing petitions, signing up for donations, and protesting.
This festival raises not only popularity of the charity but awareness of the important and critical issues concerning both our country and the world. The only publicity this festival got was from social media, as there were 575 million impressions. But oddly enough, where was the news reporting this event? Channel 7 News, or Good Morning America usually are all over current events, but are those just for the negatives?
Why not publicize this generous event on the popular news channels or radio stations rather than the most recent scandal? Publicize the great people who donate and volunteer for these charities rather than broadcasting the evil criminals.
The objective for the current news in our world should be a desire to bring up and rebuild the community. Focusing the light of journalism on positive events can change and transform the society entirely to a new era of crimeless streets and safe towns. Over-emphasis on the negatives can threaten the balance in the communities and their core values.
So instead of showing how terrible our world is and how evil our people are lets show how selfless and hardworking we are. One day, we can only hope that we can come down in the morning, turn on the television, and it won’t instantly bring down our mood or bring us to tears but it would bring light on all the good in the world.
Image Courtesy of freepress.net