J_eastburn

Likely a result of their need to be needed. In a world in which fewer bad things happen and people are bored by the mundane goodness of daily life, why wouldn't a news organization seek those stories 24 hours a day?

I think we blame "the media" as if the people doing it are bad, ignoring the real structural challenges to being positive.

It seems to me that tech is primed to increase civic engagement much in the same way it's increased social engagement. FB does this obliquely with articles dominating newsfeeds these days.

For my own part I've been toying with the idea of a mailer or notification that encourages voting. Whether you voted or not is public record. You could mail out comparative statistics vs. your neighborhood or block. "You vote in X% of national, Y% of state, and Z% of local elections. Your neighbors are doing better because they vote in X+1% of national, Y+5% of state, and Z+10% of local elections. Get out and vote next week! Here's some information on how to get informed..." etc.