Without doubt, one of the primary culprits of this doom mongering is the Daily Mail. Some of the articles they’ve printed over the last few years have depicted life in the UK as being near the brink of hell and eternal damnation. An exaggeration? Well, let’s look at a selection of stories published in June…
The Daily Mail reliably informed us that 15 million of the British public would be unable to achieve a grade G from their Maths GCSE, equating to almost half the working population.
Yet it’s foolish to dwell on the nation’s lack of numeracy skills as it’s seemingly the least of the country's problems. For anyone who might have forgotten about the worldwide spread of bird flu, be warned. We’re still "woefully unprepared for a bird-flu pandemic".
That’s before we start panicking about the giant asteroid that will threaten the future of the world in thirty years time. Allegedly.
While British people are often labelled as pessimistic (how often do we use the term “not bad” to describe our day to day feelings?), there must be an element of truth in the stereotype.
But is it in the nations psyche to be naturally depressed? Or do the media heavily contribute to this way of thinking? If so, why does the press continue to print stories of this kind?
It might seem obvious, but newspapers need to make money, and television channels need to retain their viewers. Bad news maintains the public’s interest in the media, and quite simply, bad news sells. This cycle will continue until the public begin to boycott newspapers and news channels that relentlessly produce stories of this kind.
Yet there’s an argument that bad news can be used for positive campaigns. The Sun and The News of the World are currently advocating the implementation of “Sarah’s Law”, a law aimed at listing the names of paedophiles to the public.
But these campaigns could have a negative impact. Newspapers have such a strong and powerful influence that they can stir the emotions of their readership. Don’t be surprised if this particular campaign turns into a crusade, despite its positive intentions.
In keeping with the style of these newspapers, I’ll make a doom mongering prediction of my own. Newspaper sales are in major decline. Can newspapers afford to frustrate the remaining readers that they have?
While the Daily Mail and the Daily Express account for more than a quarter of the daily newspaper sales, this trend is not guaranteed to continue forever.
With the spread of the Internet, potential apathy towards these negative stories, and an ageing readership, perhaps newspapers are writing their own death warrant.
About this article
This article was produced by James Michael from our London newsroom. It was published on the Reach for the Sky website.
