The mainstream media outlets are always flooded with negative news. Stories of wrong reasons get prominence in the newspapers and TV channels. Murder, rape,kidnap, corruption, political mudslinging fill our appetite for news. Does getting informed mean news all about these misdeeds? Is 24 negative news cycle making our days more harrowing? The excessive exposure to bad news contributes towards a more stressful life. We start our day by reading these negative news stories adding much anxiety to our mundane lives. This overdose of news about politics, crime, violence and their sensational presentation is exerting negative impact upon our mental and physical health.
Amidst this tradition of valuing negative stories more, a few media outlets making an optimistic departure. They have started a trend of giving the positive happenings of our society their worth. Instead of making you depressed with all the negative news, they have initiated to make you hopeful with positive stories. The website named www.thebetterindia.com is one of the forerunners of this movement of spreading positivity. The website has emerged as one of the biggest platforms of positive stories of India. Founded in July, 2008 by entrepreneur couple Dhimant Parekh and Anuradha Parekh, www.thebetterindia.com has shared more than 5000 stories of unsung heroes, changemakers, innovators and better Indians. They have explored many unsung heroes across the country. The stories they cover primarily focus on positive aspects like-innovations, social development, education, women empowerment, culture, travel etc. The alternative media platform is not only sharing positive stories, but also inspiring others to do good. With their stories www.thebetterindia.com is making positive impact on the lives of thousands of people. For example, in their initial days of emergence, the website published a story titled as ‘Blind with Camera’. It was about a photography club run by some visually impaired people. This inspired another visually impaired girl to pursue photography too. Assuring their popularity in digital media platforms, the Better India has won several awards including Manthan award for best alternative news site.
Yourstory.com is another harbinger of accelerating this movement of positivity. The website founded by Shradha Sarma in 2008 has published nearly 60,000 stories of entrepreneurs and change-makers and helped more than 50,000 entrepreneurs’ access networking and funding opportunities. With their vibrant, celebratory and inspiring stories yourstory.com has maintained its popularity in different digital platforms. Though the team is based in Bengaluru, Yourstory has a presence throughout the country. It has correspondents in English and 12 Indian languages, including Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya and Assamese.
Though Assam is still neophyte in this field, ‘Bhal Khabar’ has emerged as the pioneer. The weekly newspaper published by Nistha Media Private Limited devotes itself towards Bhal Khabar (good and positive stories). It is edited by Moonjyoti Saikia and available online through www.bhalkhabar.com. Niyomiya Barta, one of the popular Assamese dailies has emerged as the offbeat from their counterparts. Despite belonging to mainstream media, the newspaper has showed keen interest towards sharing and promotion of positive stories. Every Sunday, It publishes two special pages named as ‘Ashar Barta’. Through these special pages, the newspaper is trying not only to explore the unsung heroes, but also highlight the positive resources of the state. Monikankana Das, the sub-editor endowed with the job of editing Ashar Barta said, “Ashar Barta is the outcome of noble ideas of our revered editor Naresh Kalita sir. The idea is quite new for Assamese media. But it’s getting positive response from the readers.”