Eric Loo
Daily we follow the news to stay informed. But is there a downside in staying ‘informed’ about what you think are socio-economic injustices but feel powerless to do something concrete about it?
To know for a fact that something is not right, and actually act on it is one of the most challenging tasks we face.
Journalists in Malaysia often face this ethical dilemma, especially those working in a system that is defined by political patronage, blatant cronyism, kinship ties, ethnicity and religion.
Where does one draw the line between objectively reporting on how the country is doing, where it is going, and personally becoming part of the story in pushing for long-awaited reforms?
This dilemma has created a situation where occupational stress and pessimism among rank-and-file reporters will more likely happen than editors putting aside a budget and assigning a team of sharp reporters to investigate into public corruption, organised crime, socio-economic injustices and so forth.
Resignation to the reality of it-is-what-it-is, and a sense of learned helplessness, I think, goes beyond the newsroom to readers who habitually check their news feeds through the day – and night.
The correlation between one’s stress level, news production and news consumption was not such an issue before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on Sept 11, 2001.
Today, the onslaught of notifications and video clips that friends unthinkingly forward to our smartphone have taken on a life of its own.
A Time Magazine report elaborating on the American Psychological Association survey of news habits of more than 3,000 Americans aged above 18 years underscored the correlation between one’s psychological states and the consumption of bad news.
Malaysian news consumers, particularly millennial social media users, are not significantly different from the Americans. Indeed, there is a downside to indiscriminate news consumption. It’s a mood changer.
True, we may not be able to avoid the negativities prevalent in media coverage. But we can surely manage how and what we read without being totally consumed by it.
And, journalists being the news producers can certainly redefine their work – from being the dominant messenger of negativities and conflicts to becoming the purveyor of positive news that focus on plausible solutions to perennial issues.
Sean Dagan, founder of Positive News, remarked in a TED Talk in 2014 that “journalism doesn’t only mirror society, it also moves society”. That is, good news has a higher probability to lead to good thoughts and positive actions.
Positive journalism, also labeled as ‘solutions’ and ‘transformative’ journalism -has been around for some time as evident in the body of work published by Reporters of Hope in France, Noticias Positivas in Argentina, Good News Agency in Italy, and the Constructive Journalism Project.
They all point towards a common objective – to report, reveal and bring about change for the better. This solutions-oriented approach goes way back to the early 70s. It was known then as ‘development journalism’, a practice that triggers the human spirit and resilience rather than reinforces despair and despondency.
As Norwegian founder of peace-conflict studies, Johan Galtung in his co-authored book Global Glasnost (1992) with American media sociologist, Richard Vincent, said of the structural flaws in the commercial media reporting of community development and the human condition:
“It would be perfectly legitimate for a journalist to ask people around the world strange questions such as ‘What according to you is the meaning of life?’ ‘Do you feel life is worth living?’ ‘Would you live it again?’
“To have people reveal their inner agenda, not only their striving for material benefits, or at least for a minimum material basis, is already drama. Doing so journalistically newspapers would become more similar to literature. There would be more truth, more realism, and less superficiality. Development must ultimately be human development.”
Crafting a happiness agenda
A critical area of human development is mental health. While the data on global mental health illness especially anxiety, depression and overall pessimism is patchy, governments are recognising emotional wellbeing as a public health imperative.
The Kingdom of Bhutan pioneered in placing its peoples’ well-being in the centre of the country’s development policies. Article 9 of its Constitution prescribes that “the state shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness”.
The New Zealand government has also recently established a Mental Health and Well-Being Commission with a ‘well-being budget’ over five years.
Lee Lam Thye, patron of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association, likewise highlighted the urgency of addressing mental health issues among Malaysian adolescents following the suicide of a Sarawakian teenager.
Readers’ comments on the tragedy, in hindsight, generally said her life could have been saved if callous respondents to the Instagram poll had intervened, such as to chat online with the victim or alerted the police, instead of cruelly trending on the Instagram baying for blood.
Founder of the Emotional Well-Being Institute based in Geneva, Dr Basseer Jeeawody, said that development policies need to focus on the emotional well-being and strategies to enable the peoples’ capacity for “doing good”.
“Health care policy needs to shift from focusing on the management of illnesses to one that proactively enhances mental health and emotional well-being of individuals, organisations and communities.
“One crucial way of addressing these challenges is by strengthening the emotional well-being and resilience of individuals, groups, families, society in general, and the country.”
Emotional and mental health requires good working knowledge, understanding and effort to maintain and sustain. Promoting mental health must, therefore, be carried out in a “multi-dimensional approach”.
This, Jeeawody said, can only be carried out through the collective action of civil societies and inter-sectoral collaboration with the media to ensure that interventions are appropriate and sustainable.
This article was first published in Malaysiakini on June 7, 2019