Now emerging — appearing against the near-overwhelming tide of horrific news — are stories of good people doing important work on behalf of their fellow human beings and society.
Nicholas Kristof’s report is an outstanding example. Excerpt: “… side by side with the worst of humanity, you often see the best. In Syria, that’s a group of volunteers called the White Helmets. Its [ more than 2,200] members rush to each bombing and claw survivors from the rubble.
” … what we can do is provide more support for the White Helmets and, above all, do far more to help Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.”
There’s something else “we” can do: Significantly multiply this kind of reporting.
This is not to say that journalists should ignore the constant violence and brutality that has generated the “if it bleeds, it leads” editorial philosophy. We can, however, encourage new journalism on fascinating people advancing society, such as Huffington Post’s new “What’s Working” enterprise (reported in a blog here last week http://bit.ly/1uEoWj6.)
Just a few of examples of similar progress in the real world ,especially relevant to many current conflict areas:
“Business For Peace” www.businessinsociety.net : The United Nations Global Compact work in seventeen regions of the world applying business resources in conflict areas to improve economic and social environments thereby reducing a source of anti-social “volunteers”.
“The Global Movement of Moderates” www.gmomf.org : “a new approach to international relations and foreign policy, with the main goal of applying perspectives and frameworks of moderation to realize world peace and harmony.”
“The Cordoba Initiative” www.cordobainitiative.org: ” a multi-national, multi-faith organization dedicated to improving understanding and building trust among people of all cultures and religions.”
There’s plenty of good news out there. And it isn’t “boring”. It’s what we all need to know in order to better balance “if it bleeds it leads.”