Quote:
Originally posted by SigkapAlumWSU
You know (and I'm not knocking all you Journalism majors out there) I wish that just once there would be a paper that *only* put up all the good things Greeks do... and I'm very confident that an article could be written everyday!
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I hate to admit this, but it would be a failed paper - remember, it's the "juicy" news that sells - our culture feeds on the misfortune of others, not in celebrating when we do right...
I remember a couple of TV news stations in the mid to late 90's that actually tried to open the first 10 minutes or so of their broadcast with nothing but the "good" news items of the day. Their ratings plummetted, and they were forced to revert to the old tried and true ways of reporting - blood and gore gets the public's attention.
I think this has to do with society's mindset that things we "expect" to happen (i.e. greeks doing what we say we are supposed to do - philanthropy, positive social events, etc...) aren't "newsworthy", but when we fail to live up to expectations, that is front page news - and it unfortunately happens all to often. The eventual outcome of this is that our expectations are being lowered in society's eyes - and I can't think of what can be done to correct this.
I've had a chapter I advised constantly submit "positive" stories on our philanthropies, etc...to the campus paper, but they weren't printed because they weren't "news." But my-oh-my, when they were (falsely, later proven) accused of doing something very wrong, it was the front page story for days - and that very publicity did the chapter in - the damage was undoable.