There is good news out there!
Editorial
When we first had the idea of a good news edition, the first reaction was laughter. Most people thought that it was a nice idea but pulling it off would be another thing entirely. Would we be able to find enough good news that was strong enough to carry a newspaper of the reputation and tradition of The Anglo-Celt?
But there was a strong feeling in The Anglo-Celt (and from many of those we spoke to) that people were fed up of the 'R' word. They have had enough of negative equity and taxes and cutbacks and the Troika and unemployment figures and emigration and job losses... They were fed up of bad news. And with January being one of the most depressing months of the year, what better time than to try and spread a little good news and lift the spirits of our loyal readers?
We decided to put the feelers out at least and see where it took us before making a final decision on the project. Quite quickly, we got a couple of queries or 'leads' in but they were largely community based news - important and worthy, yes - but not strong enough on their own to carry a 44-page broadsheet newspaper.
We had to dig deeper. With quite a bit of brain storming in the newsroom and many ring arounds to follow up on a few leads, it started to come together.
On Monday morning, we breathed a sigh of relief that no major catastrophe or tragedy had hit County Cavan over the weekend. Could we really pull off the inaugural good news issue? Obviously it is impossible to completely eliminate bad news. There is a heavy schedule of courts, for example, ongoing in the county. And newspapers play an important role in the judicial process. Justice must be seen to be done in public and the media, as such, are your representative in the courtroom.
But outside of the courts - and judging by our editorial meetings - it was looking good.
With the simple objective of trying to keep our paper free from bad news (in so far as was possible), suddenly we had scores of good news stories from all over the county:
Major development in the pipeline for Cavan barracks;
An Autumn completion date for the €3m Castlesaunderson scouting project;
The opening of a new primary care health centre for Kingscourt - the first purpose-built centre in this region;
The development of a crematorium for Cavan town - the first outside of a city in Ireland; and
A new initiative by Cavan Chamber to attract 450 conference delegates to shop in the town.
Add to this the many community projects and stories that are ongoing around the county - the GAA All-Star Challenge in Bailieboro, the official launch of the Virginia 400 celebrations, the launch of the revamped Anglo-Celt/Rehab Cavan Person of the Year Awards, the planned trip to Iceland by five scouts from Swanlinbar for the Crean Challenge and the accomplishment of Vinnie the postman from Belturbet who has halved his weight over the past three years to once again train with the Rorys... to name a few.
It was the perfect recipe for our first ever good news edition. Conclusions: The jury's out for the moment. Certainly we found we had to dig deeper for good news. Bad news seems to land on your desk. We're not psychic so if you have a good news story in future, don't be shy, let us know about it and we'll be delighted to cover it.
If you enjoyed our good news issue - the best feedback you can give us is to buy the paper or please email your comments to linda@anglocelt.ie
If it's popular we can look at doing further good news issues in the year ahead.
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