Dear LPG,

I know that, when I send my thoughts to LPG, I am likely to be sharing them with people who are relatively nearer to my own age.  With this in mind I wonder how many readers remember the ‘and finally’ stories that the daily news broadcasts of the 1960s and 1970s offered us. 

I am talking about the ones with happy endings that were offered at the very end of such broadcasts, and amongst them we learned of beached whales which were released back to sea, people who were lost and then found again, people who have overcome adversity, or done something heroic and many more.

I have to admit that they gave me a reason to watch to the end of the late night television news broadcast because I don’t think that I am alone in saying that, over the years, what is thought of as newsworthy seems to be more depressing than ever. 

It is a sad reflection on what we humans have done to the world that we live in, but I don’t think that I am alone when I say that the news we see on television has become so increasingly negative over the years.

There were always the political stories which still often leave me quite puzzled.  I fail to see how what some politician thinks about some aspect of the world’s situation, really has to do with the news.  No one cares what you or I think, so I suggest that what they plan to do would be more newsworthy, and I feel that considering that we are supposed to be a democracy, the powers that be forget to ask for public opinion all too often once we have voted them in. The stories about the violence and horrific things that some of us do to each other is another reason that I have stopped watching. 

Perhaps those stories were always out there but not shown as readily in our post-war world. 

It seems to me that as more violent stories find their way to the television news, we can see how the violent fictional scenarios that we find in many books, films and computer games are being played out in reality.  We are now getting used to stories like those that tell of people who walk into schools or shops and aim a gun at the passers-by, and the more the lines get blurred between such horrid fiction and such similar factual stories, the more influenced some become to follow that fashion.

So, I would like to hear more ‘Captain Tom’ stories because it has been good to see something positive which inspires a few people rather than something bad.

I watch lots of television, but I have to say that I am a channel ‘turner-over’ when it comes to any news bulletin these days. As I have learned more about surfing the internet, I am now learning to make do with the headline synopsis that the world wide web offers because I can check the headlines and then choose where to click for more details.

I have a theory with two strands.  Either there was only ever really bad news, more of which was hidden back in the day, or today’s broadcasters supply because we humans have evolved into creatures who demand more and more violence (and it would only hurt them financially to disappoint).

For anyone who is of the same opinion as me, I would like to share a website I found recently which works hard to offer positive news ,although I suppose we all have to take note of some of the negative stuff.

PK, Telegraph Hill

PK offers a link to her positive news channel…

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LPG found some of those ‘and finally’ news reports…

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