Promoting ‘positivity,’ or why the news doesn’t always have to be bad

I’M happy to announce that blogger Toni Platon-Tiu of Wifely Steps has agreed to blog for INQUIRER.net, and that we’ve launched her blog Happy Nest, which is all about positivity and the good things that can make your every day better.

Lord knows we could all use a dose of positivity, what with all the horrors and injustices we read about all the time. I’m not saying journalists should sugarcoat things — the truth should be the truth, no matter how bitter a pill it may be to swallow — but we also have to find a way to balance things. To take a break from the outrages we’re exposed to everyday. To show readers that not everything has to be tragic in order to be newsworthy.

Because the truth is that the world isn’t completely evil or hopeless. The truth is that a lot of good is happening out there. And people have to know about it.

It’s something my wife Ellen always tells me, that the danger with always brooding over the past or worrying about the future is that we might end up forgetting to enjoy the present. As journalists, it’s practically second nature, maybe a defense mechanism, to be cynical. You need that in order to sift the truth from the lies many people will tell you, especially those who are in power. But too much cynicism can’t be healthy.

Which is why I think it’s the right time to launch a blog like Happy Nest in the INQUIRER.net Blogs network. It was Toni who suggested a blog on positivity when we were discussing the possibility of her blogging for our site, and I readily agreed.

The rest, as they say, is history. And yup, Toni has made history as the first “pure blogger” (read: non-mainstream media journalist) to launch a blog at INQUIRER.net. Who knows, maybe you’ll see others follow in her steps

But why Happy Nest? Why did Toni want to blog about positivity? She explains it best in her first blog post:

I chose to write about happy thoughts on Happy Nest because I am passionate about positivity. I am an optimist. I believe that happy thoughts can go a long way, and that even the smallest good thing can make a whole day a lot better, a lot happier.

Now, more than ever, people are hungry for good news. INQUIRER.net launched the Good News site some time ago to address this need. And I hope we’ll also be able to sate this hunger of our readers with some of the projects we’ll soon be launching.

This doesn’t mean the bad news will go away. A quick glance at the constantly updated Most Read articles box of INQUIRER.net will show you that a lot of the stories aren’t exactly, er, good news, heh

Then again, maybe it’s not always about the numbers. Maybe it’s not always about the ratings. Maybe it’s not just about which stories are most read.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s also about which stories readers will most take to heart.

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