I am quickly approaching five years in the journalism game and, although I am currently earning my stripes as a sport journalist (something I have been doing for a year), I have spent some time in the hustle and bustle of the general news world.
As I perused the comments on a few of the recent posts on the Benoni City Times Facebook page from our beloved readers I was a bit disheartened by some of the comments I read.
Now, in no way am I saying that our readers can’t have their say.
On the contrary, I love the fact that Benonians and people from all over the world can have such an open platform to voice their opinions, vent their frustrations or express their joy about the goings-on in our not so little old mining town.
With nearly 7 000 likes on our Facebook page it is apparent that our community is talking and has a deep and burning desire to know exactly what is going on in Benoni.
Indeed, that is what we are all about as community journalists – bringing our community together through the power of words and captivating images, as well as keeping our readers informed and entertained.
If it wasn’t for you, dear reader, we would not have remained relevant in this community for over 90 years.
Okay, now back to the comments…
There was a stage when we had published some not so nice posts on Facebook that had been uploaded in relatively quick succession, because… breaking news waits for no journo.
This is when the comments came in thick and fast, with some suggesting that all we do is post bad news stories one after the next and questioning where the good news is.
It was there.
It had just been pushed down the Facebook pecking order due to the fewer number of eyes that had seen the post and who had interacted with it.
Some of these posts sit there without receiving a single “like”.
We have been dubbed (by some quarters) the “Benoni City Crimes” over the years, due to the number of crime reports that appear in the newspaper or on our website and, in some instances, I can agree with that reference, although we have, over the years, brought you more than just crime, including the achievements of our city’s schoolchildren, wedding memories, stories of sporting prowess and real life fairytales of local princesses and Oscar winners, among others.
I understand and accept the fact that the bad and controversial news generates more interest on social media posts and on online articles than the warmhearted, lighter stuff (Google Analytics confirms this trend).
As much as the human interest pieces play an integral role in highlighting the good in our community, the bad and the ugly news will always be there and will always be the major drawcard for online readers.
As modern media daily expands its reach into the digital world through social networks, blogs and websites, the more and more we will be bombarded with the bad happenings in the world.
Crime, corruption, accidents and natural disasters are not going anywhere anytime soon and will continue to bring more unique visitors to media websites than anything else.
These topics are inevitably the things that need attention from those at the top, so by giving them public exposure problems can (sometimes) be resolved.
One of the reasons I moved to sports reporting was the simple fact that there is significantly more cheerful news and achievements to write about and appreciate.
Sure, there is bad news in sport (which again will draw more digital eyeballs), but the good, particularly in community reporting, more than often outweighs the bad.
Also, not every piece that is written by our journalists is posted on Facebook, so, if you are truly in need of a bit of lightheartedness then why not spend a few more minutes browsing through the various human interest, entertainment, schools and sports news posts on our website, www.benonicitytimes.co.za?
LG
