Positive News Makes Readers Feel Good: A “Silver-Lining” Approach to Negative News Can Attract Audiences

• In Event: News Audiences: New Findings

Abstract

After decades of criticism that the media publish too much negative news and during a time of declining news audiences, some media outlets have dedicated themselves to publishing only happy, upbeat stories. The current experiment examined the positive news industry by testing the effects of three types of story valence – positive, negative, and silver lining – on readers’ affect, story enjoyment, perceived well-being, knowledge acquisition, and sharing intentions. The authors additionally looked at hard vs. soft news stories. Results suggest that, among all types of stories, valence plays a significant role in readers’ affect, in that positive news makes readers feel good. In addition, findings suggest that the silver-lining story – one that highlights a positive outcome of a negative event – may present a practical way for media outlets to maintain the time-honored surveillance function of negative news yet also reap the affective benefits of positive news.

Authors

• Karen Elizabeth McIntyre, U of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Rhonda Gibson, U of North Carolina - Chapel Hill