When Newscasters Catastrophize For Profit

I WAS WATCHING CNN'S "Situation Room" today. They were covering the story of the collapsed Minneapolis bridge. I try to avoid programs like that, but it was right in front of me when I was on an exercise machine. As much as I've ranted about the media's negative bias, I was still amazed. Every statement they made and every question they asked seemed overloaded with catastrophizing. They tried their best to make the worst of everything. Yes, it was an unfortunate event, but they made it as upsetting and disturbing from as many different angles as they could.

The word "catastrophize" was coined by cognitive-behavioral therapists to describe one of the errors people make in their thinking that makes them upset needlessly. It is a style of thinking used by people who suffer from anxiety disorders and depression. It leads to unnecessary misery. Catastrophizing makes mountains out of molehills.

Remember one of the ways to protect yourself from a pessimism infection is to question the motives of the source of your information. A news producer's motives may not be evil, but they may not be in your best interests. Newscasters and news producers catastrophize to make a story more dramatic, or to find the alarming angle to a story. They're trying to get your attention. They're trying to get you to keep watching and not change the channel. They're trying to get their story on the air rather someone else's story.

In other words, they are motivated by ambition and competition, which is fine for them but when you watch it and listen to it, you are tainted by it because while you watch, you are not only getting facts, you are also getting a perspective. You're getting a point of view. In this case, you're getting a cynically pessimistic worldview that shines a spotlight on every possible negative, alarming, upsetting angle they can find.

I've talked a lot about thought-mistakes, otherwise known as "cognitive distortions." These are mistakes all of us make. The reason we make these kinds of mistakes in our thinking is that the human brain is wired up a certain way, which makes us 1) very intelligent compared to other animals, and 2) prone to certain kinds of mistakes.

Researchers and therapists have listed these thought-mistakes in various ways, and all the lists cover the same ground but divide it up differently. Catastrophizing is a combination of overgeneralization, black-or-white thinking, exaggerating, false implications, and negative guessing.

In other words, these catastrophizing news programs are literally sick. Mentally unhealthy. For your own sanity, I strongly urge you to stay away from them, no matter how tempting it may be to watch.

You may be surprised that something so negative could be "tempting." But our brains are tuned to survival. And potentially dangerous information is keenly sought by your brain. If something seems scary or upsetting, your brain will pay attention, and that's exactly why these news programs use it. So it "sucks you in," sometimes against your will. Your brain overrides your conscious will if survival seems to be at stake, just as you cannot kill yourself by holding your own breath.

So if those news programs are in the vicinity, you almost can't help but watch. They are too tempting in a negative sort of way. So don't allow them in your vicinity if you can help it. If you want to find out what's going on in the world without having to be exposed to the catastrophizing pessimism, I highly recommend The Week. It is not "positive news," but it doesn't go out of its way to alarm, anger, or frighten you. It only informs you.

If you would like positive news, check out Good News and The Good News Network.