Why does the media only feed us bad news? Are we to blame or are they?

It's not that there is nothing else but bad events. Perhaps journalists are more attracted to their coverage, since a sudden catastrophe is more attractive in the news than the slow development of a situation. Or maybe the newsrooms feel that shameless reporting on corrupt politicians or coverage of unpleasant events is easier to produce.

However, it is likely that we, readers and viewers, have simply taught journalists to pay more attention to such news. Many people say they would prefer good news, but is that really so?

To test this version, researchers Mark Trassler and Stuart Soroka set up an experiment at Canadian McGill University. Previous studies of how people relate to news were not entirely accurate, scientists say. Either the course of the experiment was insufficiently controlled (for example, the subjects were allowed to view news from home - in such a situation it is not always clear who exactly uses the computer in the family), or too artificial conditions were created (people were invited to select news stories in the laboratory, where each participant knew: the experimenter closely follows his choice).

So the Canadian researchers decided to try a new strategy: mislead the subjects.

Trick question

Trassler and Soroka invited volunteers from their university to come to the lab for "eye movement research." First, subjects were asked to select a few political notes from a news site so that the camera could capture some "basic" eye movements. The volunteers were told that it was important to read the notes to get accurate measurements, and what exactly they read was irrelevant.

Maybe we like bad news? But why?

After the "preparation" phase, the participants watched a short video (as they were told, this was the point of the study, but in fact it was only needed to distract attention), and then answered questions about what political news they would like read.

The results of the experiment (as well as the most popular notes) turned out to be rather bleak. Participants often chose negative stories - about corruption, failure, hypocrisy, and so on - instead of neutral or positive stories. Bad news was especially read by those with a general interest in current affairs and politics.

However, when asked directly, these people replied that they prefer good news. As a rule, they said that the press pays too much attention to negative events.

Hazard response

The researchers present their experiment as irrefutable evidence of the so-called negative bias - this psychological term refers to our collective desire to hear and remember bad news.

The stock market is falling. But we are all right with you …

According to their theory, it is not only a matter of schadenfreude, but also of evolution, which has taught us to respond quickly to a potential threat. Bad news can be a signal that we need to change our behavior to avoid danger.

As you would expect from this theory, there is evidence that people respond more quickly to negative words. Try to show the subject the words "cancer", "bomb" or "war" as part of a laboratory experiment, and he will press the button in response faster than if the screen said "child", "smile" or "joy" (although these are pleasant words are used a little more often). We recognize negative words faster than positive ones, and we can even predict that a word will turn out to be unpleasant even before we know what it is.

So is our alertness to a potential threat the only explanation for our addiction to bad news? Probably no.

There is a different interpretation of the data obtained by Trassler and Soroka: we pay attention to bad news, because in general we tend to idealize what is happening in the world. When it comes to our own lives, most of us consider ourselves better than others, and the common cliche is that we expect everything to be okay in the end. This rosy perception of reality leads to the fact that bad news comes as a surprise to us and we attach more importance to it. As you know, dark spots are visible only against a light background.

It turns out that the nature of our fascination with bad news can be explained not only by the cynicism of journalists or our inner desire for negativity. Our ineradicable idealism may also be the reason.

On days when the news is not very good, this thought gives me hope that all is not lost for humanity.