Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

The good news and the bad

By Ken Robertson, Herald Executive Editor

“Why do newspapers have to be so depressing?” the reader asked. “I mean newspapers print endless articles about all the bad things that happen, but never anything that gives hope for humanity.”

As the Herald’s editor, I regularly get e-mails like this one, and similar phone calls and letters.

My answer is always the same. Go count the stories on the Herald’s pages and put them into categories for a week. Then let’s talk.

I always tell these readers to sort stories into three categories: good news, bad news and just plain news.

Why? Because some news is just news, and sometimes what’s bad news to one person is good news to another. For example, the election of President Obama was bad news to avid Republicans, good news to avid Democrats.

In fact, it was just news. Historians will get to sort out whether it was bad or good news some years down the road. Same with George W. Bush.

For those who have their doubts, I’d cite the example of Harry S Truman. When he left office, most Americans were happy to see him gone and voted in Dwight D. Eisenhower. History has since judged Truman a pretty darn good president.

But let’s step away from politics and look at Thursday’s Tri-City Herald. To keep things simple, we’ll count the stories on the front page and the Mid-Columbia lead page and categorize them.

We had four stories on the front page: the latest news on the congressional bills appropriating money for the Hanford cleanup budget, a story that North Korea was suspected of launching a cyber attack on U.S. computers, a report on researchers counting fish in the small waterway that runs through the Meadow Springs Golf Course and a report that a quarter of all U.S. abortions are done with drugs instead of surgery.

One of our news sources called the Hanford story “good news.” I can’t argue with that.

The fish counting story was slightly good news because salmon and steelhead are using the waterway. The North Korean cyber attack was bad news.

And the abortion story was bad news to abortion foes, but probably good news to women who choose to have an abortion because the drugs are credited with “virtually eliminating the risk for a rare but dangerous infection.”

Rather than take sides, I’ll categorize the story as just news.

The two photos on the page showed the fish counting operation and a boy and his dog having fun on a playground slide. Both at least slightly good news.

On the front of the Mid-Columbia local news section were four stories and two briefs.

A follow-up story about a worker who fell 50 feet at Hanford and was seriously injured was a mix of bad and good news. His injuries are severe, but he survived and is recovering. Co-workers and his employer are trying to ensure the family has the help it needs, good news. An investigation is continuing to prevent further safety problems, more good news.

The second story recounted how a church youth group had returned home safely from Honduras after a coup there ousted the president. That seems like mostly good news.

The third was about legislative candidates appearing at a forum. That’s just news. And the fourth was that Columbia Basin College wants students to apply early. Again, just news.

The briefs were a follow-up on the discovery of a girl’s body in Milton-Freewater — no doubt bad news — and arrangements for a memorial service honoring a longtime Tri-City judge and attorney. That’s just news.

The two photos on the page both had good news elements: A shot of longtime friends enjoying a float on the Columbia River and a photo of work to complete a disc golf course in Finley.

How’s that all add up? Four photos that are mostly good news. The front page had one bad news story, two good news stories and one “just plain news” story.

The Mid-Columbia section had one good news story, one bad news story and four items that were just news stories.

You may not agree with my categorizations but you get the idea.

If you want to join the conversation, do some counting of your own and add your comments at the comment section below, send an e-mail, call my phone or drop a letter.

w Ken Robertson: 582-1520; krobertson@tricityherald.com

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