How to navigate today’s dark news cycle

The news cycle is going through a particularly dark period right now – as the cynical newsroom saying goes; if it bleeds, it leads.

Still coming to terms with the aftermath of the pandemic, images of war-torn countries, the injured and dead, displaced and starving children are splashed daily across the news.

In Australia, not a week goes by where another woman isn’t killed through domestic violence, the news headlines are full of stabbings, home invasions, the extreme cost-of-living, natural disasters, the current housing crisis, climate change, homelessness, cybercrime and ugly politics – it’s relentless. And it’s winter to boot.

These stories consume the nightly news, dominating the headlines and leaving the soft, feelgood stories of Tattslotto winners, cuddly pandas, little athletics, and bumper mango crops left to the final five minutes as a parting ‘gift’, which in news lingo is called the ‘kicker’.

The consequences of negative news are negative. It’s all too depressing, too dark, too upsetting. According to Lifeline, inundated with calls to their crisis support hotline, the news cycle and tragic events across Australia and indeed the world, has triggered much anguish and distress. And it’s at times like these that viewers and readers alike, feeling helpless to make a difference, make the decision to simply ‘switch off’ to preserve their own mental health and live their lives as best they can.

News avoidance is now at record levels. According to one global study by Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, almost four in 10 (39%) people around the world are sometimes or often avoiding the news, compared with 29% in 2017.

For some of our experts, particularly those working in the areas which can be perceived as confronting or even depressing, breaking through the news avoidance barrier can be a challenge, but there are ways to continue to make an impact, even when it seems you’re shouting into a void.

Understanding what’s currently happening in the media cycle is crucial at times like this. But rather than ‘switching off’ and choosing to not create content, hoping that things will pick up, what are the longer-term effects of staying silent, particularly in times of uncertainty?

If your content deals with ‘uncomfortable’ topics, you can still run your stories but think about flipping the angle slightly.

Let’s take ‘suicide’ as a topic. Rather than rolling out depressing statistics on how many people commit suicide in Australia each week, think about talking about how many people contemplated suicide but found help instead, who were able to find their way back and live to tell the story. While the subject matter is depressing, the story offers inspiration and hope.

It’s not that audiences want to tune to everything sunshine and rainbows, they probably won’t. And we can’t control world crises that need reporting on. But while we wait for the news cycle to take a turn for the better, we can shift our focus to more uplifting news angles.

By Suzi O’Dell, Media Engagement Manager, Media Stable.