You report that broadcast media are looking to address the massive drift from mainstream news sources, in part due to the relentless nature of its negativity (‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off, 1 April).
So why are our media so obsessed with bad news? Who says that we must face a daily diet of stories about Gaza or Ukraine or Myanmar or Donald Trump’s shenanigans, followed by a case about a sex pest in the 70s or a dodgy priest, followed by gory, often prurient details of a domestic abuse case or police corruption (or both) and a deadly house fire?
