A regional daily has marked the New Year by launching a campaign to celebrate good news stories.
The Argus in Brighton has launched its That’s Good News campaign in the newspaper, on its website and across all social media platforms.
It says it will guarantee “positive news” in the south coast paper every day and measure confidence across Sussex by giving readers and online users the opportunity to share their success-stories.
Readers will also be able to get involved by contributing to the Good News Barometer on the The Argus website, which will measure how optimistic people are feeling about the coming year.
Readers can get involved by contributing to the unique Good News barometer
The Newsquest title has also launched the #thatsgoodnews hashtag on Twitter which will highlight the good news across the city.
The Argus editor Michael Beard said: “All the economic indicators point to a recovery gathering speed as we enter the New Year.
“Brighton and Hove was built for good times and we want to help business owners spread the word about their good news.
“We are asking readers get in touch to tell us their good news.”
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It’s doomed to failure. These things always are. I’ve seen many similar “initiatives” over the years and they all fizzle out sooner rather than later.
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Hello Brighton Argus, 1977 called and wants its campaign idea back. There are old-fashioned ideas, and then there’s this, which is practically prehistoric. People might say they want more good news, but when push comes to shove they don’t actually give a monkey’s about it. Death, destruction and weird stuff are what drive paper sales and web traffic.
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Frank’s right about death, destruction and weird stuff driving sales and trafffic but I think readers also want a sense that the local newspaper/website is making efforts to highlight good news / deeds, even though this coverage might not directly drive circulation or site visits.
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Worth a try, all the same.
In a career spanning locals, regionals and nationals, I have only ever known one editor who has pulled this off successfully. He was one of the top, top men at Associated Newspapers.
He acted after a series of high-level politicians had well publicised rants about bad news sweeping the country.
He decided to have a page of positive news for the week.
The key was finding quirky, cheery stories on a well drawn and illustrated page rather than the half-hearted propaganda that politicians class as positive news.
It worked well but he made sure the page didn’t outstay its welcome either.
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