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published. Null results, conclusions refuting preferable evidence, and positive outcomes are often overlooked. Finally, the stories that do reach the news are typically framed to maximize their viewing audience. If it is fear that lures readers and viewers at the beginning, then it is fear that will give birth to more fear as this cycle continues through academia, industry, politics, and the media. In the end, what is commonly left convenient for news agencies to report is negative news.

The news stories that survive in the above ecosystem can be adjusted to fit specific goals. Varying combinations of numbers and words stir different emotions. For example, it is a fact that 415,408 teenage girls 15 to 19 years old gave birth in 2004, up from 414,580 in 2003. The number of unmarried women having babies also increased from 1,165,384 in 1990 to 1,470,152 in 2005. Conversely, it is true that the rate of teenage pregnancy dropped 46% from 1991 to 2005, while the rate of unmarried women giving birth rose by only one in a thousand women. Each pair of statistics provides versions of the truth, yet only the first pair could be labeled with catchy terms like "sharp rise", "tragic", or "hopeless".

The evidence is clear on one fact: A news consumer must be critical of the information they are fed - from its origin to its presentation. A short list of questions may prove useful: Who is providing the information? Where are they vested? How much uncertainty or variability surrounds the numbers? Does the language used appropriately match the data?

It is true that negative news can be beneficial to society. Fear holds the power to elicit action. There is a difference, though, between motivating positive change and inducing paralyzing fear. We know that a population of rabbits, living without predators, will proliferate uncontrollably until the ecosystem collapses altogether. Similarly, if left unchecked, a system filled solely with fear is unstable. By introducing a fox - or a little positive information - into the system, society may more easily provide and consume "fair and balanced news".

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Pierson.
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