They sit on the couch surrounded by a constant stream of information. The TV in front of them blazes with headline after headline, each proclaiming the next big event or uncovered secret. Their phone buzzes next to them, notifications popping up on the screen like muck floating to the top of a pond, one negative story after another. They get up and move to another room to escape the noise and find themselves in a group of people. They think they have found relief, but soon the same chatter from the news comes spilling forth out of their mouths, and with each sentence, the news seems to get darker and darker. They go to their room to escape again and find themselves in the dark thinking: I want to avoid all the negative news, but if I do that, how will I ever know what is going on?

These days the news seems to overflow with mainly negative headlines. It’s even more obvious now with the coronavirus, as it’s almost impossible to go a day without hearing the latest, usually negative, about the virus. While the virus is an important topic to talk about in the news, it shouldn’t be the top story day after day. Sure it is the media’s job to report on what people want to hear, but they also bear another responsibility, to balance out the bad news with some good in an effort to relive some tensions. This could be done by sharing feel-good stories, reporting more on the positive sides of issues or focusing more on a hopeful message for the future. Right now this might be something like reporting on funny things people do when they are bored in quarantine, the positive environmental impact that is going on or how this virus is a chance for the world to evaluate how to do things better in the future.

Now, the media will never stop focusing more on negative headlines instead of positive ones as the negative headlines always get more attention but there is a way to help counteract this issue. The simple way to do this is to spread good news on our own. Each person might seem small but we all have connections and conversations every day that we can use to help spread a positive message. This could be something like discussing how the environment is doing better during this time or talk about how quarantine is helping some families grow closer together. This is especially important right now because that bit of positive news could be just what someone needs to go out and help, something that some are desperately in need of right now. In the end, the media must help to spread some positive news, but everyone else must bear some responsibility as well and help create some light, to help beat back the dark.