Why We Don’t See More Good Things in the News
As I looked through the news headlines this weekend for a topic to write about in today’s article, I couldn’t help but think, as is frequently the case, there are a lot of bad things in the news.
Of course, this doesn’t surprise us. It’s why some people don’t watch the news. They find the news too depressing.
There are a lot of bad things going on in the world. Yet, we might ask, is it all bad?
No! The world is not all bad. It’s just hard to find good news.
Why?
To answer the question why, I invite you to think about the content of gossip you hear. As good Catholics we shouldn’t gossip. Part of the reason we don’t gossip is why the news features mostly bad stuff. Gossip often centers on bad things. Why? Unfortunately, because people find it more interesting. For instance, in office gossip, if someone does something that might get them fired, the office gossip is on fire. On the other hand, if someone gets an award for doing an outstanding job, it may get talked about but often not as much as the bad stuff.
Gossip often doesn’t give a complete and accurate image of the state of the world. Is the news any different?
For example, we have a parishioner who is a village police officer and serves as a school resource officer. A couple of years ago he earned a state award as a school resource officer. He did make some of the local news but nothing more. However, if a village police officer was to be involved in a questionable shooting, it would likely make the national news. (I gave thanks when the national news does offer a story on the kindness/community involvement shown by a police officer!)
Another comparison is a recent headline I saw that a boom in data centers is straining the power grid. Now, there is some importance and thus, a need for this to be reported. That said, it is “negative” news. You generally don’t hear in the news when the power grid is fine.
In politics, we hear when a candidate does something objectionable. How often do we hear about it when they do something good?
We hear about bars where there are fights and shootings? I’m guessing there are more bars without regular problems than those where the police are often called but how often do we hear about them?
When a plane crashes it makes the news (rightly so) but we don’t often hear about how many planes make it to their destination without any problem. The good news is there but it isn’t talked about because it is normal. There isn’t anything to make it interesting.
Sometimes we need to listen to something bad in the news to find the good. The best example here is when a flood or hurricane causes much destruction. Clearly this is bad news. We find the good news when we see the people who offer help for those who lose their homes. We don’t want the bad to happen but when it does, the help given by others brings hope.
Hope…we need hope. We find hope when we have faith in Jesus. I will end with the following quote from Pope Leo XIV, “To hope is not to know,” Leo underlined. “We do not already have the answers to all the questions. But we have Jesus. We follow Jesus. And so we hope for what we do not yet see” (Hannah Brockhaus, “Pope Leo XIV gives advice for living with hope in a ‘troubled era.’ Catholic News Agency. October 25, 2025. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/267409/pope-leo-xiv-gives-advice-for-living-with-hope-in-a-troubled-era).
Peace,
Fr. Jeff