Changing the Narrative: Finding Positive Stories in a World Full of Negative Headlines

Bad press sells. Good press doesn’t? Let’s change this!

(A version of this story appeared in Thrive Global recently.)

In the past year or more, it seems as though the U.S. press has been showing us news that is almost always about the negative events going on in this wonderful country. School shootings. Corporate shootings. Bombings. Murders. Incredibly bad weather, especially this past winter.

And when our press does report news from other countries, it again shows us negativity, even though there have to be countless stories of good deeds that would remind us of the good people all around the world.

I grew up with parents who traveled widely, I worked for five years as an international seminar leader, one of my children is in the U.S. Foreign Service, our family hosted six high school-age exchange students over the years, and I know that there are good people making great strides everywhere, but we’re not learning about them.

Why not?

So, on a whim, I started following a couple of foreign press outlets that produce content in English from all around the world to get different viewpoints on what is happening on this small planet of ours.