What Makes Me Look Like Bad News

Why do I like to give bad news?

Yes, it gives you status and makes you appear as someone with information of value withing the group. Also, it gives you the illusion that you have power over others as you are able to evoke an emotional reaction from them.The fact that the event are negative, bad news, is significant. If you were bringing good news, that would lift them up, as it is bad news that will disturb them or put them down. So, your effect on the group is negative which would imply that there is a high level of anger, aggression, disappointment, unhappiness etc in you which you should address and then you can stop being a pain to other people!

Why are we so hung up on bad news?

Thanks for the A2A!There’s a place for good news and uplifting, inspiring stories. That place is called social media. People share positive stories and videos all day long, and those posts go viral. I can purposely seek out those posts if that’s what I’m in the mood for.But TV and print news serve a different purpose. I don’t watch CNN to see cute cat videos. I watch to find out what’s happening in financial markets, what governments are doing, what I need to watch out for in my community. The bad stuff is sensational, and it makes people watch/read. Without customers, news agencies wouldn’t be in business, so they give people what they want.I find it worse on TV than in print, so I rarely watch television news anymore. I’d rather pick and choose what interests me and read about it rather than being force fed what someone else thinks is important.The positive is important, but it’s not a threat to my safety or liberty. And that’s why I follow the news. I want to be informed about the things that will directly affect my life. I need to know when to act. And when you start to turn a blind eye to the bad stuff, the bad stuff gets worse. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

Recent bad news is making me afraid to live my life. How do I overcome this?

As the matter of fact, the national security should be the concern of all, not just you or me, black or white.But life have to move on. You just need to be extra vigilant, extra careful and sensitive to your surrounding, and avoid places of crowds, if possible.If you need a driving license because it’s necessary, as a mean of transport to workplace, then you have to get it. You can’t give yourself some excuse that driving is dangerous due to the incidents that you mentioned above, as I believe traffic accidents incidents and death are far more than these.As to whether you could enjoy your life now, I think you still can, if that means going camping, diving, cross-country, any similar activities, with just a small groups of friends, without really being in the spotlight or “making a scene”, in another word, keep a low profile.So, all the best, and take care!Vic

How do you overcome bad news?

Excellent question. News has always been bad. If you go back and look at newspapers from a century ago, as I did for research, you will see the same sad litany of death and disaster, scandal and suicide. The difference is that reading the news used to be a small part of anyone’s day. Now news has become the prime story of our lives and that is very dangerous.To unplug from the news:set a daily limit on how much you watch or readDo “news free” days or even “news free” weeks. Put on music during your drive home.When a friend starts a conversation with “Did YOU HEAR…” be polite but say no, you didn’t hear and you’d rather not.Get most of your news from magazines or newspapers, which have plenty of upbeat stories — arts, science, books, features — and much less from TV. Or just turn off TV news altogether.Read some history and you’ll see that in some senses, things have always been dark but hey, we’re still here. History can be hearteing that way.Finally, The Attic - A Kinder, Cooler America

How do doctors deliver bad news on diagnoses? What would they say or how would they do it?

There is no technique. There is only empathy and honesty. During training most have had lessons in grief, response to grief and breaking bad news. It provides some understanding as to what the other is experiencing.However, we are all human. We have all lost people very dear to ourselves. Some we lost when we were too young to understand and some later. How would I want my doctor to tell me things are going bad..? How do I know he tried his best..? Did he convey the gravity of the situation earlier to me clearly..?It boils down to rapport. If it is a surgical procedure that did not go as planned but risks were explained then we have no choice but to accept the facts. But that doesn’t mean you have to be harsh or blunt when conveying the news. Be kind, be honest, be clear and give space. They must be allowed time to digest the news. They must be allowed privacy to grieve. They must be made comfortable and be allowed opportunity to ask questions until satisfied.Often denial may occur, don’t be cruel. Be firm and honest but allow them time to come together and accept. This may take more time than you have so make yourself available to answer more questions later. Let them know that they are important enough that you will schedule time to meet them again and again if necessary. That often helps as most will slowly accept the news and then start asking the real important questions of what do we do now.As doctors we have the understanding of the true pathophysiology behind the poor outcomes. The family does not and will need to have things explained to them. Make the effort to simplify the science and don’t treat them poorly if they fail to understand. They will appreciate your effort. Be sincere in your work and efforts. Have a clean conscience so you can sleep well at night.

Does the media concentrate too much on "bad news" and not enough on "good news" stories?

It’s not like that, media does show good and positive news as well. What you call bad news is rape, terrorism, robbery, hatred, scandal, corruption etc. but all these also play an indispensable role and these are the serious issues which need to be addressed and reported. Whether you believe it or not we the viewers are more interested in such type of stories as this is what we see in our daily lives. And to be more precise no news is a bad news until and unless it is biased or factually incorrect.Yet what is truly fascinating is the explanation for this contradiction between interest and coverage: Even the smallest shifts in ratings can cause news organizations to change substantially their news focus. So if India TV shows programs like “Swarg ki siddi” then we watch it leading to their TRP. If we stop seeing such programs then the channel might think about wrapping such programs. Let me make one more point, today we talk about ‘Citizen journalism’ as we all are journalists so if you have some positive news feel free to share it with any news organization they would love it to make it reach out to the masses.