There is more to news than just disasters
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It occurs to me after living in Thailand for 10 years, that the media here rarely, if ever, features stories of successful people.
Not people who are at the top of their Harvard class, or those who inherited their “good luck”, but average people that average readers/viewers could connect with.
Bad news – car/bus crashes, boats sinking, epidemics – capture the readers’ eye but, regrettably, most news today capitalises on the bad news solely.
Everybody needs a “superman” that in some different way, maybe smaller or a new way, they can try to emulate. Success is not as important as the road to success.
I viewed one such feature (they have many) on Channel News Asia. It followed the quest 10 years ago of a relatively new start-up company, Maestro Guitar of Singapore, the only guitar-maker in Singapore.
The owner of the company became very successful after a few years but wanted to be world class, and today ships his instruments all over the world.
He believed a super box, unique in the musical world, was possible and set out to prove it. How? You’ll have to view the documentary or, if possible, send a rep to Singapore to interview him.
The point is this. Though bad news is and will forever be king of the front page, there is a need for these type of stories targeting a group of the forgotten who want/need some optimism in their life.
True stories like this, and there are thousands out there if you look for them, often prove more popular than media organisations realise.
Don Aleman
