This month's Happiness Challenge podcast delves into the transformative power of positive news and its ability to foster hope and optimism in our lives.

Klaudia Mitura hosts Amy Davoren-Rose , The Creative Director of Fix the News, an independent publication dedicated to highlighting stories of progress and solutions rather than focusing solely on the negative.

They explore the impact of consuming positive news on our mental health and how it can reshape our outlook on life.

Whether you're seeking a break from the doom and gloom or looking to boost your happiness through inspiring stories, this episode is your dose of good vibes and hopeful headlines.

Hello, happiness seekers. Welcome to the Happiness Challenge podcast. I'm Klaudia Mitura, and I'm on a mission to explore the best happiness habits that science has to offer.

Like so many others, the pandemic cut me off from my family and work. So I decided to use my training as a psychologist to discover what science can tell us about the art of happiness.

What I found set me on a path to joy. And now I'm ready to share my journey with you.

Each month, I'm publishing three linked episodes where I'm speaking to a leading expert, putting their tips to the test, and sharing my findings and feelings.

From mindfulness to exercise and random acts of kindness, I'll be shining a light on the simple happiness habits that can bring more joy to our lives. So join me as I embark on my challenge, and together we can become more successful, resilient, and happy. Hello, happiness seekers.

My name is Claudia, and welcome to this month's Happiness challenge, where I'll be exploring how can we find hope and optimism by reading positive news.

Helping me with this topic is Amy Davoren-Rose, creative director from Fix the News, my absolutely favorite independent publication that reports good news from around the world. And Amy is going to introduce us to the concept of positive news. How do they differ from traditional media and their impact on our happiness?

So let's explore together how positive news can reshape our outlook on life and the world around us. Welcome, Amy.

Ah, thank you, Claudia. That is such a wonderful introduction, Amy.

I'll be honest.

I have ditched reading news very early in my life because every single time when I've been exposed to news, which, by the way, my parents watch daily and listen daily on the radio, I was absolutely filled with dread and helplessness. But that has changed when I found fix the news.

So how would you define the concept of, of positive news and how does it differ from traditional reporting?

Well, firstly, I'm so happy that you have felt a difference since reading our news. I guess the best way to answer your question is to describe a little bit about what we do at fix the news.

So we basically report on stories of progress. So think about all the things that are going right in the world. And believe it or not, there is actually a lot of progress happening right now.

It's just that we don't see much of it in the headlines. So while the mainstream media focus most of its coverage on the world's problems and what's going wrong, we focus on the solutions.

So I guess one of the best ways to describe the difference is to think about it like a report card for humanity. So if you're reading the news every day, you are basically just getting the f's.

You are getting all the stories of where humanity is pretty much failing at everything right now. We like to focus on the a's.

And I guess the thing to point out is that when we talk about positive news and good news stories, these are not fluffy, feel good kind of dogs on surfboard or local bake sale type deal. These are big stories of progress in human rights, global healthcare, poverty reduction, massive rewilding projects, ocean protection.

And a lot of the stories that we report on, they take years. More often than not, they take decades of work, and they are really reshaping the story for both people and planet.

Annie, thank you so much for really quickly pointing out that big difference.

Because I must say, often when I suggest fix the news to my friends, to my family, they say, oh, okay, so you reading those stories of local impact, as you said, someone raising 100 pounds for a bake sale, which are very important, but as you said, you're reporting on that progress at such a global scale.

Would you mind giving us maybe a couple of examples of such stories that appeared recently that are really demonstrating this idea of ace four, where we as humans are actually winning and succeeding and doing well.

Yeah. Well, look, one of probably one of the biggest ones is deforestation in the brazilian Amazon, which in the last twelve months dropped by another 45%.

So there's a 45% reduction in the amount of trees and forests that are being destroyed. And this is huge. And it was the largest decrease since they started recording these things.

So that is probably one of the biggest environmental stories out there at the moment that we don't hear a lot about. Another one of my favorites is the free school meals, which I'm not sure whether you've picked up on this thread in our newsletters. This is amazing.

There are now over 480 million children across about 100 countries that are receiving a nutritious whole foods meal at school. And it is not only raising school attendance, it's dealing with things like malnutrition.

And it now looks like in last week's newsletter, we actually included a story.

It looks like Indonesia is jumping on board this trend, and this is going to be huge because one in five kids there actually suffer from malnutrition. So school meals is another big one. And disease elimination. We are making so much progress in global healthcare.

16 countries have now eliminated an infectious disease.

We've also got the malaria vaccine, which is rolling out at the moment across Africa, which is going to be a complete game changer for the global south. So there are three threads of stories that I think are really huge and really speak to the changes that are happening in the world right now.

Yeah. Thank you, Emmy. And as you said, when we hear those stories and their impact. Yeah. I personally instantly feel, okay. Hope. Optimist.

We are doing the good in the world as humans as well. So you already touched on that. Why is it that traditional news is skewed towards more that negative bias and those specific challenges?

And do you face any specific, maybe barriers when trying to report on those positive and good news?

Yeah.

Well, I think, to answer your last question first, and it's what we spoke about, is that quite often good news and positive news is seen as really fluffy, and we live in a world where being cynical is actually interpreted as being smart. So that is, they're probably two of our biggest barriers in terms of this work, why mainstream news is so skewed toward the negative.

I think it's because, you know, a lot of stories about disaster tend to get more eyeballs, so people tend to click on those stories more. And it's interesting, you know, we talk about a lot about the problem in the media, but it's also the audience as well that has an appetite for this.

It's a bit of a chicken and an egg thing. And the business model of modern media really has become, if it bleeds, it leads. It's those really sensational negative headlines.

The thing that I find most interesting, though, when you're talking about why this has happened and maybe why good news isn't getting as much coverage, it's because bad news happens really quickly and good news takes time. So we have a 24/7 news cycle that is always looking to fill the slots.

And so it's designed to capture those sudden events and natural disasters and tragedies that happened, whereas the nature of progress in the stories that we report, it's really slow. It happens generally over much longer periods of time, and it just doesn't fit with the mainstream news model.

That is really interesting. Really interesting observation. I'm now reflecting of kind of seeing the traditional and mainstream media versus the fixed news.

And I think that is really insightful, that, yes, of course, before we reap the benefits, there is so much work, there is so much innovation going into that that is just not that quick, sudden aspect of it, but just playing a little bit devil's advocate just in case some listeners are thinking, okay, great. So, okay, I'm now reading things the news. I'm listening to this very positive, specific trends there.

Do you think there is a risk maybe that we are becoming too focused on that positive news that we may be starting to almost, like, ignore and not engage in more difficult issues? How can we balance this idea of the things that we failing at as humans, but also at the things that we are doing very well?

I think it's really hard to miss the stories of what's not working and where we're failing. Those stories are everywhere. And so one thing that we say is that we are not interested in going out and saying that the world is great.

This is not a hold hands, Kumbaya, everything's wonderful type of situation. You know, the news was designed to basically inform our view of the world. That was when the news first started. That was its job.

But what has happened is it's only telling us one side of the story. And so even though there are a lot of terrible things happening, it doesn't mean that the whole world is terrible.

I actually came into this work as a bit of a Pollyanna optimist. So I was exactly the case study that you pointed out.

What this work has done for me and working in this space is that it's actually expanded my worldview. So that is. That is where I see the role of positive news.

So that you can say, yes, there are really hard things happening over here, and there are also really good things happening over here. One doesn't balance out the other, one doesn't cancel out the other, but it just expands your view of the world.

And what's interesting is I was one of those people that had pretty much switched off mainstream news.

But since I've been in this work, I actually have much more capacity to sit with the world when it breaks, when war breaks out, when there's a natural disaster, because I also know about all the progress that is happening around it.

I love that. So this idea that by having more rounded perspective, we also becoming more resilient because we understand that that's one side of the story.

Absolutely love that. And any other maybe impacts that you have seen or experienced of the positive news overall on happiness and well being.

Yeah, I definitely think a big part of it is expanding your worldview.

And I think the other thing that is really interesting is that when you start reading more about the solutions, you are much more likely to be active in creating them. So when you think that the world is doomed and you are in despair, there's nothing left to do.

You might as well just sit on your couch and wait for it all to play out. But when you see these stories of progress happening all the time, it almost starts to rewire your brain in a certain way.

And especially once you start looking behind some of these good news headlines, you see that it's humans who are driving progress. It's very much people like you and I, and it's really empowering.

And it actually gives us a lot of agency in the world to be creating that change that perhaps we're looking for.

And, you know, I really have experienced it myself. Every single time I read that positive story. And the positive news you write there is this idea of, okay, I can join that movement.

Those people are making the difference. I can make a difference no matter how, how small. And I think that is really important.

And another aspect is definitely so my husband works within rewilding, have always been within the space of climate emergency. And I have seen that his eco anxiety decreased massively because he's engaging within the fix the news and much more than only with mainstream media.

So it's incredible to really see that impact and experience that impact of how that really reshapes our mindset. And I just wanted to now go maybe more practical, because on my podcast, I love to test drive different types of hacks and maybe practical actions.

So what would be the one thing that you could prescribe? Give me and my listeners to try.

It's a really hard prescription to really narrow down. I think it is more about curiosity. So it's about staying really curious when you're engaging, especially with mainstream news.

And I would challenge people that if there is a story that they're particularly concerned about or that makes them feel really anxious and worried, just try doing a quick google about any solutions that are happening around that issue.

Because more often than not, there are people, incredible people around the world, working to solve these problems, who are rolling up their sleeves every single day. But because they're not within our newsfeed, we think they don't exist. Just because they're not visible doesn't mean that they're real.

So that would be my challenge, is to really zoom out and get curious about what solutions are already in play.

I love that. So it's almost like adopting this mindset of, okay, what I'm seeing here is not the whole story.

So I almost need to apply my critical thinking and be curious about what is the different side of the story, the positive side of the story.

And I think in itself, that is a big mind shift because we often feel, as I think you mentioned earlier, that what we see in mainstream media is the reality out there, because that's what media supposed to be reporting on. So it's really interesting that we becoming much more critical the way we digested news and understand that, no, that's not the whole story.

Let me, let me find another side. Absolutely love that idea.

This is what I'll be doing now from every single story I'm going to find, as you said, I'll be like, searching for all of the fix the news newsletter. Okay. What's out there? What's out there? Tell me, what's the different side of the story?

Yeah, I mean, it's, even if you're worried about the increase in wildfires, there are so many stories out there about how cultural and indigenous fire burning techniques are starting to be used in more countries to mitigate wildfires through summer. So there is always, and it's not necessarily the positive side of the story. It's the work that is being done.

To change that story with the real innovative, different solution. Love that. Absolutely. Love that, Amy, because this is a podcast about happiness.

My final question to you, which I ask all my guests, is, what makes you happy?

Oh, my goodness. That is such a good question. And it is such a hard question to answer. But I think in context of this conversation, people make me happy.

Honestly, I've been doing this work now for just over four years and having conversations and reading these stories about people who show up under the most difficult of circumstances and just keep going and keep showing up to make the world a better place, to make the world a fairer place. It really does make me happy to be part of the human race.

When I am reading those stories, when I'm interacting with those stories, you know, humans really are amazing when we are at our best.

And knowing that definitely makes me happy, because now, whenever I hear on the news that there's been a disaster, the first thing that comes into my mind is the people that will already be rushing to that site to either try and save people or make a difference. So, yeah, I know it sounds really simple, but people, people make me happy.

Oh, thank you so much, Amin. That's absolutely brilliant.

And I love how you really applying that in your work and amazing opportunity you have to, as you said, engage with all those incredible people and those incredible stories. Thank you so much. Where can listeners find more about fix the news? How they can subscribe? Can you tell us a little bit more?

Yes, certainly.

So they can go to our website, which is fixthenews.com, and on the website you'll see that you can subscribe we have a free edition of our newsletter, so we have two editions that go out each week. We have a people edition and we have a Planet edition.

Or they can also subscribe to our premium newsletter, which is a paid version, and a third of our subscription fees from that newsletter go to supporting under the radar charities.

So basically, we're creating this circular news model where people that are reading the good news stories are also helping to create more good news stories through these different charities that we support.

Thank you so much, Amy. And again, thank you so much for coming to the podcast.

I know that you are joining me from Sydney, so we are on a completely different time zone, so thank you so much. I really appreciate.

Claudia, thank you so much. I've loved this conversation.

Thank you everyone for listening. And I see you at the next episode where I'll be test driving some of the methods shared and also sharing my thoughts and feelings about them.

To keep in touch, please subscribe to my newsletter via LinkedIn. The happiness challenge but in meantime, most importantly, as always, I dare you to be happy. Thank you so much.