ice and news

June 24, 2006. Late in the afternoon. I was having coffee with two of my friends. I don't know if people here in Baguio noticed that there was an "ice rain" that afternoon. Me and my girlfriends were "lucky" enough to witness such rare weather condition. A news that would make anyone interested considering the fact that the Philippines is a tropical country.
We were ecstatic and texted some of our friends. They thought we were drunk, or even worse, they thought we were "high". People tend to give reasons to something they do not beleive in. They consider the possibility of the news but they never believe a hundred percent of what you say.
Then I texted a friend and said that there were people who got hurt during the ice rain because they forgot to bring an umbrella. Of course, I really didn't know if there were really people who got hurt, I just wanted to sensationalize the issue so that they would believe the story. Surprisingly, my friend beleived the story. Funny but she found the story true and interesting. Hmm...a negative criteria plus an interesting news equals a news worthy and believable topic. Interesting.
I think that it is an effect of the media. The more negative side of the story, the more interested people will get. In evening news programs, only one or two topics show a positive story. Almost all of the news are about the country's political problems, car accidents, rallies, oil price hike, anyhting that will not make your day right. How negative can the news get?
On another thought, you will not expect media to mostly present a positive story when there is very little of it in our country. Negative side of the story is one criteria in choosing what story to be presented. I guess it is a normal occurence because it is the trend. Maybe the negative things are one way of awakening individuals to bring a more positive story for our country.