What makes positive media? There is a huge pile of research looking at the negative aspects of media, particularly related to advertising. There are studies addressing social concerns about the impact of media on how people define themselves, success, society and, well, pretty much everything. The quality of the research varies, of course, but there are many legitimate issues to be addressed. There is a pretty unified chorus against negative media, however you define it. But what is positive media? There isn't much literature on what exactly constitutes positive media. (In fact, I don't know of any. So if you do, please let me know.) Does the fact that advertising, for example, is produced by a company with a profit motive mean by default that no media they produce is positive? Does media have to address social issues head on to be considered positive? What about fun, creativity or interaction? A post by Amy Corr in Media Creativity (Talking Puddles) got me thinking … [Read more...]