We'd like to talk to you about a new online platform today called Mexico Today. We Are One Travel and Amigo Trails have long been tweeting and posting articles on Facebook about all the positive things going on in Mexico and are thrilled to discover this wonderful new site that is doing that very thing but with an entire website devoted to it. You'll find videos, interviews with tourists, articles from CNN about the safety of Mexico and wonderful news articles about positive things happening in the whole country.
This website is particularly interesting to me as I believe it sets a courageous example of how our world should be when it comes to news and how we can all change our thoughts from negative to positive. I think the best place to start that change would be in our media programs. I'd like to see a new world come about where the old saying 'if it bleeds, it leads' is no longer the norm and top dollar does not go to the most hurtful and damaging news stories one can find. Instead I'd like to see this same example followed on our news programs; positive, helpful events being broadcast about positive, helpful people and situations. When did our nightly news go from being an unbiased report about everything happening in our world to an opinionated, damaging and negative experience.
One might say that perhaps our world has become more violent and more angry so that there is more violence to report on rather than positive images. This is indeed one way of looking at it, but it begs the question; why? If our world has become such a horrible place to live in, that there are no positive stories to report on anymore, then one must reason that showing negative news reports around the clock will do nothing to change such a world. In fact, if watching violence creates violence, as so many parents believe today and who've protested to ban violent video games from our children, why then would watching violent news reports night after night have any other affect on us then to make us all more violent?
What if we tried to change this scenario just a bit? A tweak here and there, if you will, so that instead of allowing networks to continue to make outrageous amounts of money by selling a dramatic and bloody view of the world, we could instead insist that they show us positive, uplifting and hope filled stories. A great platform for this type of broadcast is on the air already and is a brave step toward this lofty goal. It is a program from CBS called the Sunday Morning News. The program is begun by the host addressing the most relavent news in the world, even the most terrible stories, but he does it in a professional, brief and unbiased way, much like it used to be done. There are no opinions and no great drama given to what is happening…it is just reported and then he moves on to the next story and what the show focuses on – positive news in the world. The program also ends in a lovely way; a full minute is given to a peaceful scene in nature so that all viewers go away from the program with a happy thought and a calm energy. How can one fight with their kids, neighbors or friends after watching that? They can't. It's simple.
Somewhere along the line, networks changed the way news was projected. They started selling drama and pain rather than informing the public, which is how the news was intended to be presented. The marketing departments found that dramatic music at the beginning of the news programs would hype people up and prepare them for the coming drama. They brand the drama as well with clever slogans and colors for their headlines that keep the viewers on the edge of their seat. It is more like watching a movie than being informed of the facts. The news has basically degenerated from a fact giving platform to an hour long trailer for an action film. I have worked on news crews and have seen the industry change dramatically through the years. It is interesting to say the least.
Now, I know we all need to hear about what is going on in the world and that all negative news cannot be rejected. I'm just saying we should look into a new sort of news relay system that focuses on good news rather than bad and that relays the bad news in a less dramatic and more unbiased and brief manner. There truly is just as much good to say about any place as there is negative and if we all focus on the positive, won't that make us all more positive and less angry? I think it is a sound reasoning and would be interested to see where our world may end up 20 years from now if we were to begin to see things in a brighter light. Afterall, once it our very own mother's who always taught us 'if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all?' How can that be wrong.
Bottom line is this: we hope you will all take the negative things being said about Mexico with a grain of salt and be sure to listen to all the positive that is out there too. A great place to start is the website of Mexico Today so why not go there now and find out what is (also) happening in this beautiful country called Mexico.
