In Colombia, all the families, including mine, have the tradition of having dinner while watching the 7:00 pm news. I remember it as the most important event of the day. Parents, grandparents, children, even pets get together to find out what is happening in the world. When I was teenager, most of the news was about the war between the Army and the FARC guerilla. I had nightmares from that news because it was so shocking for me. News companies should balance negative news with positive news for these two reasons: inspire the spectator to do good deeds and benefit the mental health of the spectator.
First, news companies should balance negative news with positive news to inspire the spectator to do good deeds. Canal Caracol, one of the most important and traditional Colombian television channels, has a special section named Actuar Ciudadano that means act citizen in English. In this section, they show social and environmental activists working in the most remote regions of Colombia such as Guajira, Amazonas, and Pacifico. One day my friend Pablo of the National University of Colombia told me that he decided to study Agricultural Engineering because he watched the section Actuar Ciudadano when he was a child. He said that when he finished his degree, he would go to work in those remote regions that need more help.
Second and more importantly, news companies should balance negative news with positive news to benefit the mental health of the spectator. In the middle of the pandemic, the two biggest television channels in Colombia, RCN and Canal Caracol, only broadcast news about the COVID-19 disease. At that time, I lived with my in-laws Myriam and Juvenal in their house in Bogota. They sat down every night at 7:00 o’clock to watch the news. They started to feel depressed because all the news was negative. In addition, they started to get anxious and panic about going out in the streets. I am sure that if they had not watched just bad news and instead watched more hopeful news, they would not have developed these mental health issues.
In conclusion, news companies should balance negative news with positive news for these two reasons: to inspire the spectator to do good deeds and benefit the mental health of the spectator. News influences the actions of the viewers. If the news is positive, probably the spectators will do good actions like my friend Pablo, but if all the news is negative, they can cause stress and mental illness to the viewers like to my in-laws Myriam and Juvenal. What would happen if all people watched positive news? Would they change some of their decisions?
Madelaine Alejandra Amézquita Suarez was born in 1998 in Girardot, Colombia. From a very young age, she was fascinated with the classical music, especially with the violin, which she started playing from the age of five. In her teens, she studied at the Tolima Music Conservatory, where she belonged to the Youth Orchestra, in which she played the role of concertmaster for three years in a row. She also played in the Tolima Chamber Orchestra and in the Tolima Symphony Orchestra. As a member of these orchestras, Madelaine participated in several classical music festivals in different countries such as the I International Meeting of Children and Youth Orchestras (San Juan de Pasto, Colombia 2011), the V International Festival of Children and Youth Orchestras Iguazú in Concert (Argentina, 2014), Premier Orchestra Instituted Festival (USA, 2014), XVI Festival Musicanas Montanhas (Brazil, 2015). Later Madelaine entered the National University of Colombia where she graduated as a Violin Musician in 2020. Madeleine currently lives in Georgetown, Texas where she also works as an Au Pair.
