Professor Martin Seligman<\/a>, the founder of positive psychology, asks the question \u201cWhy do people today have a negative worldview?\u201d His answer immediately follows: \u201cBy reporting only one side, journalism widely contributes to the propagation of a negative worldview.\u201d A view made up of misfortune, brutality, and despair.<\/p>\n Indeed, according to journalists, the world is doing very poorly. The horrors of war in several regions across the world, the threat of terrorism, refugees overrunning Europe by the hundreds of thousands, weighing on a shaky European unity, a worrisome President of the United States and North Korean dictator, and the atrocities committed by ISIS in the Middle East and Boko Haram in Nigeria are but a few of the disastrous topics making up the daily core of information. All of this must certainly be reported, but is that all? And is this the only way to deal with these topics? It\u2019s no surprise that the majority of people have an opinion of today\u2019s world fraught with pessimism. However, Seligman asserts that all the statistics he\u2019s aware of show that the world is changing for the better.<\/p>\n Cathrine Gyldensted<\/a> is the director of the Constructive Journalism Department at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She studied positive psychology under Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n An interview she conducted with a victim of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis who lost both her house and her job proved to be revealing. To her astonishment, the woman said that she learned positive things from her misfortune. \u201cWhat did you learn?\u201d asked the journalist. Someone who seemed to have lost everything in one day told her that she\u2019s happy to have discovered that she\u2019s stronger than she thought, to feel support from so many people around her, and to have a better relationship with her son. For Gyldensted, the revelation is that she was seeing and treating this woman only as a victim, whereas the woman herself had a more balanced view of her situation. She had included the positive consequences of her unfortunate experience in her perspective. It is this perspective that should inspire modern journalism.<\/p>\n Newspapers seem to think that by pointing fingers at everything that\u2019s going wrong, we will keep society good and fair. According to Gyldensted and many other journalists who agree with her reasoning, this assumption is severely inaccurate. It lacks positive angles on what\u2019s going right in the world or what could be better by offering solutions or asking good questions. It\u2019s not about hiding what\u2019s wrong but about taking a more balanced approach to events by including positive facts as well as the potential for progress and the opportunities provided by each situation: an approach that goes beyond simply \u201cpointing fingers,\u201d information that does not limit itself by insisting on the dramatic and brutal sides of events, information that incorporates different perspectives and provides options. This information would then be very useful for politicians, decision-makers, and citizens. This is how constructive journalism could contribute to a more accurate, more positive worldview and foster a climate of trust.<\/p>\n A climate of trust is an increased resilience of individuals. This is one of many things we learn from positive psychology. Unlike traditional psychology, positive psychology proposes focusing on measures capable of creating and fostering well-being instead of focusing only on the bad. This new paradigm defines health as the presence of well-being rather than just the absence of disease. Treating and curing disease is good, but preventing individuals from contracting disease is better. Aaron T. Beck<\/a>, another American psychologist, explained in 1979 that a negative perspective of the future is one of the three factors leading to depression. Meanwhile, other scientific studies have shown that pessimistic individuals are predestined for heart attacks and that optimism greatly reduces their risk. Similarly, it has been scientifically proven that people who are fundamentally happy are better protected against common diseases like cold and flu.<\/p>\n Therefore, the new paradigm implies that we must constantly focus on creating the necessary conditions to develop well-being by improving the context in which we evolve. Knowing that the context in which we live has a decisive impact on our physical and mental vulnerability, this paradigm takes on a very profound meaning. Growing up in a harmonious family setting, a positive professional atmosphere, and a balanced societal environment play a key role in individuals\u2019 resilience. The economy and businesses can greatly benefit from this assumption. Increased resilience can reduce the costs of absenteeism and increase productivity.<\/p>\n The perception that individuals have of their living space influences their well-being. This is where a new type of journalism, constructive journalism, can play a primary role. Some journalists and media sources have already set things right. Gyldensted names several, including Erika Bjerstrom, from Swedish national television, and\u00a0Tina Rosenberg<\/a>, founder of the\u00a0Solutions Journalism Network<\/a>\u00a0in New York.<\/p>\n Gyldensted shares an anecdote about\u00a0Alan Rusbridger,<\/a>\u00a0the former editor-in-chief of\u00a0the Guardian<\/a>: While the editing of the Guardian focused on the topic of global warming, his intent to add prospects for the future and offer solutions was clear. His response to critics of the profession was \u201cI don\u2019t care about your critics. The subject is too serious for us all to not include a focus on prospects for the future and solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe refuse to speculate about the latest scare or breaking story\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Dutch newspaper\u00a0De Correspondent<\/a>\u00a0provides another example of constructive journalism. It defines its mission as follows: \u201cDe Correspondent provides an antidote to the daily news grind \u2013 shifting the focus from the sensational to the foundational, and from the attention-grabbing headline to the constructive insight. We refuse to speculate about the latest scare or breaking story, but work instead to uncover the underlying forces that shape our world.\u201d And even in Switzerland, the new website created this year by a group of French-speaking journalists under the name \u201cBon pour la t\u00eate<\/a>\u201d claims to be constructive. \u201cThe interest is to break away from \u2018It goes without saying\u2019 and offer a reflection that goes beyond common connections and spheres of influence,\u201d one of them tells us (www.bonpourlatete.ch). Journalists have to become aware of the fact sensationalism and the perception that it<\/p>\n Of course, today\u2019s journalism is not the world\u2019s only source for pessimism and depression. But it is clear that, as an agent of influence, it bears a significant part of the responsibility. Journalists must realize that this influence is too often negative and triggers bad emotions to the point of being a factor of illness. Therefore, they must portray a more balanced view of the world and promote sources of optimism, where they exist. At the risk of repeating ourselves: An individual\u2019s resilience and health are largely dependent on their living situation. The major role that the media play in impacting the way we perceive our environment and its consequences on an individual\u2019s well-being is undeniable. The solution is constructive journalism, which is the cornerstone of a happier and therefore, more resilient society.<\/p>\n Author: Noureddine Yous, intermedio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How Journalism erodes our resilience \u201cIf it bleeds, it leads!\u201d is a famous proverb in journalism illustrating how newspapers choose and present world events. With articles focused on sensationalism, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[349,347,348,331],"class_list":["post-4706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychologie-en","tag-destructive-journalism","tag-journalism","tag-optimism","tag-resilience-en"],"yoast_head":"\nIt is all about a change in perspective<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nThe link between optimism and resilience<\/h3>\n
The era of constructive journalism has begun<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h3>\n