Study reveals people want more 'good news'

Posted by Dominique Lewis Tuohy on November 24, 2005 at 12:51 PM

A new survey, conducted in the US and funded by Bayer, involving 1004 people has revealed that 94% of people would prefer to hear good news than bad, and 77% believe not enough coverage of good news is shown in the media.

Furthermore, people indicated that they felt hearing bad news made their day worse, and in 78% of cases bad news made people feel anxious on occasion.

David Bersoff Ph.D. of Yankelovich, the organisation that conducted the study, said the following: "Simply put, good news can uplift the spirits, while bad news can, at times, directly impact our emotions and our outlook on the world around us in a negative way."

Although this study could be potentially interesting for newspapers a more detailed understanding of the way the study was conducted is necessary to render its results exploitable.

Source: MediaWeek (through Mediapost)