In class we discussed the fact that top news stories are consistantly depressing stories. I've always had a problem with this and recently (ironically enough) one of my friends has been complaing about it and charing me with a mission to change it (...because he's not a journalist). But after working as a news editor and becoming more jaded during my time at IC I see the logic with leading with "bad" news. As much as we may not like it, a rebel attack on a country's capital is more important than a happy-go-lucky feature. That being said, I don't see why we can't lead with positive NEWS ... scientific break throughs made by other countries, good political swings, that sort of thing.
As much as I would love to see positive news (from around the world, not just the U.S.) on the front page I think at this point in time we've dug ourselves into a hole we probably can't get out of. If a newspaper or news cast leads with a positive story and people find the usual bloody, depressing stories that have become traditional leaders later in the paper/show they will get mad. We've put so much importance on depressing news for so long that it has become synonymous with the idea of "the most important news." Even if journalists realise the structure is flawed it's too late to change because the public won't understand why we're burying the "news" all of the sudden.
It's the media's fault that we fell into this rut but it's too late to change things now.
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