No wonder we feel sick viewing so much bleeding

“If it bleeds, it leads” is an axiom that journalists follow in selecting news for display on page one of a newspaper and to lead broadcast news shows. We know this practice sells newspapers and increases broadcast viewership. Unfortunately, watching this stuff can make you sick.

No wonder that we feel yukkie after watching and re-watching videos of bombings, beheadings, shootings, beatings, etc., especially when we watch and watch and watch the same scene again and again. You don’t have to be a psychologist to guess at the results.

In a national survey of 2,500 Americans, one in four admitted to feeling a great deal of stress in the previous month and blamed news as one of the reasons for the stress. It’s like a scab on your arm. You pick at it until it bleeds.

Doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen reported this and other survey results and suggested how to combat this maladay in their mid-June newspaper column. Their two leading suggestions:

First, Watch it once. Then turn it off.

Second, Better yet, get your news the old-fashioned way by reading a newspaper.

We know that we’re drawn to bad news. We tend to share what went wrong at the office with a spouse at the end of a work day. We describe how our vacations were marred by unexpected events. We talk of war before we consider peace. We criticize bad behavior rather than concentrate on the good.

So, why wouldn’t we expect to sell newspapers and broadcast time by following the “when it bleeds, it leads” practice?

My wife and I became so fed up with television news that we nearly suffered heart attacks before finding a remedy:

First problem: One minute of news followed by one to two minutes of advertising, some of it tasteless, much of it sexually demeaning, most of it repetitious.

Second problem: Editorializing the news. Example: Igorning what was once known as free press-fair trial guidelines by acting as judge and jury of someone, often a celebrity, being accused of a crime. Doesn’t anyone read and understand the importance of the Sixth Amendment these days?

Here’s how my wife and I solved the problem:

First, we read a newspaper daily, and we understand the difference between the news and editorial functions of media.

Second, we watch the evening PBS one-hour news show and C-SPAN television stations that cover proceedings of the federal government and other public affairs programming. As a result, we watched and heard the speeches announcing the candidacy of most presidential hopefuls, speeches by the president, committee proceedings, congressional voting and other events central to governance.

We do, however, make an exception to these rules by watching people suffer concussions, break limbs and bloody noses while the Oregon Ducks play football.