Good news is No news?

We’ve all heard the talking heads on TV. The American economy is a disaster. The “r” word is tossed around like a volleyball at the beach. There seems to be a delight in talking about the American dollar dropping. Not to mention the cost of gas. All the Morning news shows wrap their entire morning around the run for President and the economy. They know what sells. It seems we delight in the terrible. We want to know more about scandals. About disasters. About the terrible things a campaign says or does.

Then, I picked up our local newspaper yesterday, and in the second section, page 8, there’s a headline that says North Carolina’s economy is growing. Jobs are added. Shouldn’t that be front page news? This is great for our state! So why does this happen? Why do we bury good news and highlight bad? I’d love to hear your ideas. What does it mean for marketing and PR? Especially for Ministries and Churches.

The church has a lot of good news (gospel) to share. Most of our stories are uplifting and inspirational. So how do we get attention?

Let me suggest 3 observations and recommendations:

1. Consider what your good news is in reaction to. What is the bad news that your good news is helping. Say you have a new food pantry for the homeless. Then start researching the bad news that this helps solve. What (and who) are the homeless populations in your area. Are they increasing? Consider developing the “bad” story a bit so that you can go to the media with it. They’ll listen more. then you can spring your good news on them. And they won’t have to do the leg work of developing the story.
2. With all the bad new in the media, your good news is like an oasis. Make the oasis good. Really good. Although the population seems drawn to the negative, we ultimately love the hero stories too. But they have to be really good. And touch a cord that matters to us. One of our needs (water, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and education). One of our commercial clients, GL Barron, is in India right now building wells for communities. Now, they get the idea!
3. Tell your story well. There are some websites, like A Little Good News Today, that help you get good news stories out. They are committed to spreading stories that get missed by the major media. It’s a cool concept. Start thinking about the good things that are happening to you right now. Don’t let the media drive you to the negative. God is good to us. Once you start telling others about the good things, it becomes contagious. Try it!

The best news (for us) is that the Bible says that those who worship God, “Bad news won’t bother them; they have decided to trust the Lord”(Psalm 112: 7 CEV). So stop letting bad news get you down, start trusting in our God, and start working “their” system to get good news out. How about you? Leave me some comments. What do you think about the predominance of bad news stories? How have you overcome them?