NBC anchor says request for positive stories has hit ‘incredible nerve’

[Catty1]

I know that controversial stories belong here. That means that a lot of bad and sad news winds up here too - so I posted this as a bit of an antidote!

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29556042/?GT1=43001


Williams hears viewers' plea for good news
NBC anchor says request for positive stories has hit ‘incredible nerve’

Evan Agostini / AP
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams asked viewers to send in their suggestions for good news to lift the recent dreary newscasts, and the response has been overwhelming.

updated 4:03 p.m. MT, Fri., March. 6, 2009

NEW YORK - Between the drumbeat of bad economic stories, two wars and a winter that won't quit, NBC's Brian Williams knows he's been anchoring a depressing "Nightly News" for a depressed audience.

Still, even he was shocked at the thousands of responses he has received in less than two days after asking viewers to suggest some good news to report.

"I'm looking at a stack of printed e-mails," Williams said Friday. "We have more stories than we could humanly cover if we combined all three network newscasts. It's hit an unbelievable nerve."

Williams said he's been hearing it repeatedly from people he meets on the street or viewers who send e-mails: The news is so bad every night that it's a burden to watch. Wrote one viewer: "We all know it's bad, but the news makes us feel like crawling under a rock."

He recently ran into colleague Al Roker on the street outside Rockefeller Center and was surprised that sidewalks normally crowded with tourists were empty.

So he made a plea seconds before the end of NBC's newscast on Wednesday: We're looking for good news. Nominate people doing good work, perhaps a random or regular act of kindness in a cruel economy, and we'll tell some of their stories.

He's heard about a man who keeps a full can of gas in his trunk and gives it to people who have run out of gas, asking only that they do the same for someone else. One woman goes up to strangers on the street and gives them money. A man nominated his landlord, saying he reduced the rent and even helps pay his bills.

Nightly News

"It really told me something," he said. "I have learned a lot. I thought I knew all there was about the good nature of Americans, and this was a flood."

Williams was set to read some of the letters on Friday's newscast and do stories from across the country next week from some of the suggestions. His "good news" idea runs the risk of being cloying, but Williams said a newscast, like a newspaper, has room for a diversity of stories.

One of his viewers recently wrote to urge Williams to begin and end each broadcast with some "good news" to lift people's spirits. He can't make any promises about the top of the newscast.

"We can get half of that right," he said. "We can give her half of her wish."

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Links to Good News sites: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
http://www.happynews.com/
http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/

And it's true stuff - just good!

[cassiesmom]

I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for some happy news

[Grace]

I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for some happy news

No, you most certainly are not!! Most of the time lately, I turn the TV off after the local news.

I hope NBC will continue with this.

[Daisy and Delilah]

ABC News keeps it somewhat light. I really enjoy their "Person of the Week" feature on Friday evening. It covers some person, or, more than one person, that have done something good. I think most of these people are nominated by viewers.

Some of the stories are so heartwarming, I get LES.

[smokey the elder]

They also run a piece called "The Spirit of America" which features good deeds. Bad news gets ratings, but some leavening with good news will improve them, especially in these rough times, IMO.

[cassiesmom]

EBay top bidder: Take our money, keep your stuff
Posted: Saturday, January 31, 2009

ATLANTA (AP) - It started as a family joke: Facing snowballing medical expenses for their two young disabled children, Gregg and Brittiny Peters quipped they might need to sell everything they owned to stay solvent. As the bills tipped $10,000, however, the idea was no longer funny.

So on Thursday, the Gainesville, Ga., couple accepted a winning $20,000 eBay bid for all their belongings minus their house.

It came with one catch. The winning bidders, Donnia and Keith Blair of Texas, want the family to have the money, but keep their stuff.

Seems like the perfect happy ending, but the Peters say the whole idea was to start over, not take a handout.

The decision is out of their hands, the Blairs say.

"They've worked really hard to get those things and we're in a position to help them," Donnia Blair told The Associated Press Friday. "She can just act like they're my storage facility."

The Peters' lives and finances changed dramatically last April, when their 2-year-old son Noah was diagnosed with autism and with sensory and gastrointestinal disorders. Then in the summer, doctors diagnosed their 7-year-old daughter Ayla with juvenile arthritis. They also have a 1-year-old son, Eli.

Special treatment for the two older children costs about $2,000 a month and the Peters are carrying a $1,400 mortgage on their house in a suburban area about an hour north of Atlanta, said Brittiny Peters, a stay-at-home mom whose husband runs a tennis academy for middle and high school students.

They soon began keeping a list of what they could give away‚ a jogging stroller here, a dining table there.

"Then it kind of hit us both, let's just sell it all," she said, explaining the couple figured "we will buy these things again some day."

They listed approximately $40,000 worth of items on the popular online auction, from DVDs and leather coats, to the king-sized bed where the family had Saturday morning pillow fights, according to a Web site set up by well-wishers trying to help the couple.

The Peters spent Friday morning trying to persuade the Fort Worth family to accept their belongings, which include a 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe. They even tried to retract the couple's bid.

"They are apparently not willing to take our stuff," Brittiny Peters said. "They're purchasing them to give them back to us."

The Peters said they will accept the money from the Blairs, but want to pass along the kindness to others. They are considering making donations, including giving away their SUV.

They are also trying to figure out what to do with money raised on the Web site, www.everythingweown.org. They didn't ask for the money and their efforts to return donations have upset some people, Brittiny Peters said.

The Peters are perfectly willing to stick by the bargain. But the Blairs ‚ who wouldn't give details on how they can afford to give away $20,000‚ won't budge.

"We've really been blessed the last few years and we saw an opportunity to help," Donnia Blair said.