The City Reporter, a newspaper based in Rostov-on-Don, says it lost two-thirds of its readers after deciding to publish only good news for a day. Their website asked its readers: "Do you feel like you are surrounded by negative information? You don't want to read the news in the morning? Do you think good news is a myth? We'll try to prove the opposite tomorrow!"
As promised, on December 1 the website carried only happy headlines such as, "No disruption on the roads despite snow." Another announced that an underpass would be built in time for Victory Day.
As uplifting as they were meant to be, the positive news stories sent readership numbers plummeting. Deputy editor Viktoriya Nekrasova said, "We looked for positives in the day's news, and we think we found them. But it looks like almost nobody needs them. That's the trouble."
The following day, the City Reporter decided to return to car crashes and burst water pipes.
| An only-good-news day here at Rantburg would be terrifying, as we waited for myriad unseen shoes to drop. |