War weary? Cheer up with good news

This is painfully difficult for a journalist to admit, but there seems to be a depressing amount of good news around at the moment. It doesn't have to be all terrorism, war and recession, you know: a whole other sector of the press is competing to bring you the uplifting stories that will sweeten your day.

This week, to reflect the goodwill supposed to afflict newspapers this season, the Media desk has binned its normal reading in favour of Positive News, The Positive Press and Good News Daily. In print and especially online, teams of reporters now face the appalling task of finding upbeat stories to tell. Take Positive News, a 55,000-circulation tabloid produced in Clun, Shropshire. Its new issue celebrates the 32 families building a commune in Gloucestershire, Daniel Barenboim's workshop for Israeli and Palestinian students, and the launch of a new Movement for the Abolition of War. Its front-page headline would shame The Star: "May Peace Prevail on Earth".

Shauna Crockett-Burrows, a 71-year-old former actress, set up Positive News nine years ago "because the mainstream media tend to be so negative - you never get to hear about the many people taking chances to improve their lives". The newspaper is distributed free from health-food shops and the like, and is funded by subscriptions ("The Guardian, Observer and Daily Mail take us"), donations and advertising for alternative-energy systems and organic food boxes. Advertising has remained stable since 11 September (good news!), although the editorial task, Crockett-Burrows admits, has become "more challenging".

Still, she notes, there is a positive side even to the Afghan war: "People are much more informed now about US foreign policy, which is good. And in the Middle East, we know about the number of groups working to bring peace."

There is more good news on the web, where Positive Press guides readers to upbeat stories "to encourage more constructive and positive journalism". Concerned that the media's focus on disasters and catastrophe leads to a prevailing cynicism, it highlights "countless daily acts of human intelligence, ingenuity and generosity". This weekwe learned about Amanda Lollar, who has been nursing thousands of injured bats; Barbara Turner, teacher extraordinaire and Harold Fisher, still building churches at 100. Elsewhere, NewsForTheSoul.com was reporting yesterday that a turkey had been liberated from the Christmas table, and GoodNewsDaily.com had Erin Brockovich posing lasciviously as its Hero of the Day.

The phenomenon is even being regionalised: GoodNewsIndia.com led on Mahadeva, a Bangalore undertaker who is "an icon for dignity of labour and indomitable spirit".

What, then, stands out as the best good-news story of this otherwise awful news year? "Mmm, that's a tough one," Shauna Crockett-Burrows reflects. "It has been a very tricky year in that regard."