Positive journalism

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Positive journalism is a current in journalism that consciously reports on positive topics and uses positive language. Positive journalism can be understood as a kind of countermovement to the widely stated negativity bias in classic media reporting.

definition

Positive journalism sees itself as a journalistic genre that intends to produce positive cognitive, affective and motivational effects in the recipient. Positive journalism thus represents a normative - possibly even educational - approach.

The focus of positive journalism is an output orientation. This means that positive journalism should not be defined by the type of reporting, but by the intended effects. Positive journalism by no means wants to report exclusively on positive events and situations, because this would inevitably lead to a one-sided shortening and distortion of the world perception.

Positive journalism is therefore not limited to positive topics and content such as victories, successes, agreements or solutions. Negative events can also be the subject of positive reporting if they are formulated positively, e.g. solution-oriented, or if they have a positive outlook. The form, especially the language, is therefore of elementary importance in this genre.

Scientific basis

The concept of positive journalism is based on the findings of positive psychology , which was founded by the American psychologist Martin Seligman . Positive psychology criticizes conventional psychology for seeing through deficient glasses instead of constructive ones, as it mainly deals with mental disorders, but not with the conditions of the desired normal state, mental health. Applied to journalism, this means not only viewing “bad news” as “good news”, but also expressly reporting on positive developments in the world. Empirical studies have shown that one and the same set of facts, once presented with positive and once with negative language, has positive or negative effects on the well-being of the reader.

Differentiation from other journalistic genres

Positive journalism intersects with other journalistic genres.

  • What it has in common with constructive journalism , for example, is based on principles from positive psychology and the solution-oriented perspective.
  • There is also overlap with peace journalism , which also focuses on positive aspects and has pacifist, de-escalating goals. Here, however, the reporting field is narrowed to peace.
  • There are also parallels to the less well - known solution-oriented journalism in German-speaking countries . It not only addresses problems, but also propagates possible solutions.
  • It contains positive aspects, the in this country rather unknown preventive journalism (Preventive Journalism). It sees itself as a kind of social early warning system.
  • After all, in utility , advice , service or consumer journalism (service journalism) there is often a journalistic approach that tends to be positive.

distribution

Examples of positive journalism can be found particularly in English-speaking countries. Examples include the Good News Section of ABC News and the Huffington Post. With the Positive News there is also a format that also appears in printed form.

In the German-speaking area, positive journalism is only partially recognizable so far. For example, the “Good” section is an integral part of the German edition of the Huffington Post . In addition, the " taz " , for example, published three special editions between 2009 and 2010 with exclusively positive projects. Other German media such as ZDF or Spiegel Online also want to dare more positive journalism, as media journalist Stefan Niggemeier reports.

literature

  • Deutscher Fachjournalisten-Verband (Ed.): Positive journalism. UVK-Verlag, Konstanz 2015, ISBN 978-3-86764-646-8 .
  • R. Siegert: Positive journalism. Enlightenment public in the interaction of the publicist Rudolph Zacharias Becker with his correspondents. In: Jäger, H.-W. (Ed.): Public in the 18th century. Göttingen 1997, pp. 165-185.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The accusation of a negative trend in media coverage has been examined and confirmed in various international studies. Examples include: Grace Ferrari Levine: "Learned Helplessness" and the Evening News. In: Journal of Communication. Volume 27, No. 4, 1977. doi: 10.1111 / j.1460-2466.1977.tb01863.x and Matthias Heinz, Johan Swinnen: Media sland in economic news: A factor 20. In: Economic Letters. Volume 132, 2015, pp. 18-20. doi: 10.1016 / j.econlet.2015.04.011
  2. ↑ See in the following Christin Fink: Positive Journalism - Introductory Thoughts. In: German Association of Trade Journalists (Ed.): Positive journalism. UVK-Verlag, Konstanz 2015, pp. 7–17.
  3. ↑ See Cathrine Gyldensted: Innovating News Journalism Through Positive Psychology. University of Pennsylvania Scholarly Commons 2011.
  4. ^ Fritz Lietsch: The media can give hope. In: Forum for Sustainable Management. 4th January 2016.
  5. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier: The world is doing well. In: FAZ.net. August 24, 2015.