I waited a few days to see if perhaps the initial reports were somehow out of context or perhaps lost in translation, but I can't find anything to dispute the move last week by the Romanian Senate to pass a law mandating that 50 per cent of all broadcast news be positive.
The law will be implemented by a national council, which will have the enjoyable task of determining what constitutes good and bad news.
As a news manager, I'm asked all the time why we don't carry more positive news. I typically reply that there is plenty there for the perusing: Sports sections chronicle athletic prowess, Arts sections examine creativity, Business sections look at the generation of wealth and entrepreneurial innovation, and the news sections contain all sorts of stories on advances in medicine and science and the betterment of society. The adage in broadcasting --- if it bleeds, it leads --- hasn't been effective for some time, even if newscasts often start with the most shocking developments to attract interest.
But I don't think anyone would like a quota of even five per cent. The community will decide if you're too negative by moving to some entity that isn't.