One of the most important things to do when building your media engagement is to keep up to date with the news. Whether you’re listening, reading or watching it, you really should access a couple of different news sources daily so you can keep abreast of what is going on in the world and your industry, and therefore maintain relevance in your content. 

But as we all know, there is such a thing as too much news.

With the advent of the 24/7 news cycle and globalisation has come a constant barrage of information. In the old days, news was very locally focused, and you’d really only know about what was happening in your own backyard, or in your own country with the odd sprinkling of world news. Now, we learn of every little thing happening in far-flung places that we would never have previously heard of – stories of strange petty crimes, natural disasters and national crises that hit us from all angles on social and mainstream media.

If you read the news a lot, it can become overwhelming. News can stress you out, and warp your perception of the rate of criminal activity and disasters, and the associated personal risks.

The media is often criticised for focusing on the negative, and their response is that bad news sells – it’s the consumer’s preference to read negative news over good news stories.

So what is your first response to feeling overwhelmed by news? Maybe it is to stop accessing news altogether. But really, the best solution is to choose your news sources wisely to avoid sensationalism and simultaneously start reading some positive news.

Accessing positive news will balance your perspective and stop the stress, cynicism and warped sense of reality taking hold. You don’t have to go to the other end of the spectrum and start reading mindless celebrity gossip.

Here are some excellent good news sites that will provide the perfect balance to your favourite mainstream news:

Positive.News calls itself the constructive journalism magazine and focuses on covering society’s challenges through a lens of progress and possibility. It was founded in 1993 and has some excellent, solutions focused, salient content. Check Positive.News out here.

The Good News Network – A US news site that gathers great news stories from around the world, and has been operating since 1997. Fear not, this is no ‘Kitten saved from tree’ style site. Some of our favourite headlines of the day are, ‘This machine turns your food waste in to gas for cooking’, ‘New implantable drug could ease opioid addiction’ and ‘Muslim Community Break Their Fast In Order To Donate Blood After Orlando Shootings’. Check out Good News Network here and sign up for their email for a daily dose of good news.

Huff Post Good News – Did you know that Huffington Post has it’s very own Good News Section? In fact, so do lots of news outlets including News.com.au. Huff Post and News.com.au can be a little more ‘viral video’, little less hard hitting positive news, but these are great places to visit for a daily dose of nourishing positivity. Just beware of news.com.au’s side bar of linked stories – some of them are definitely not positive!

ABC – Australia’s ABC has its own good news section as well. This is like high brown good news, with everything from positive refugee stories to historical research on handwriting.

So if you’re feeling a little down and you’re thinking of giving up the news, instead inject one of these good news sites into your daily media digestion and see how you feel.