Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Daily Template: Bad News, Good News

The Daily Template Page 1 and 3
In Journalism class…
Dustin: LIGHTNING STRIKE KILLS PET FINCH! Why can’t we have a good news story on Page 1?
Editing Instructor: Economics and psychology.
Dustin: Economics?
Editing Instructor: Shocking news items attract readers. Adrenalin sells more papers.
Dustin: And psychology?
Editing Instructor: Schadenfreude. Readers like stories reporting bad news happening to other people.
Dustin: Like gossip.
Editing Instructor: News is gossip, writ large.

­_____________
Voice-over
Good news can make it to the front page. Usually a report of a conflict overcome.

Perhaps the bad news > good news model is not just economic and psychological. It may even follow the storytelling arc. Clash to closure.

Which page in a newspaper do you turn to first? Page 1 or Page 3? Like when someone tells you, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the bad news catch audience eyes mostly? Supposed the news should be a interesting or an astonishing? People are curious about the bad news more than the good news, because there are somethings mystery in, it's the part of human's psychology. Bad news won't courage people than the good news. Hope you can read the good news first, and the bad news in the end.

Barry Natusch said...

Human beings are programmed to evaluate. The thalamus in the brain decides on "bad" and "good", or "negative" or positive" and then instructs the body to act: fight, flight or smile. It's embedded.