gra-dult-hood n.

1. A stage in life between graduation and adulthood.
2. Gradulthood often involves jobs that don't fulfil a graduate's expectations.
3. A term coined during the recession.


Gradulthood Jobs: The business proposal

You always hear people moaning about how depressing the news is. ‘Oh it’s all murders and rapes these days’ you suffer in the form of a constant drone whenever you go anywhere near somebody over the age of 55.

But they’ve got a point, haven’t they? Watch the news at 10 or pick up a national newspaper and the content is, in its majority, negative.

A quick glance at the BBC News Online homepage at the time of writing and the top three stories are as follows:

Two men stand trial for the MURDER of Stephen Lawrence. Clarke refuses to apologise, but admits he made the wrong choice of words whilst commenting on RAPE. The Queen visits Croke Park stadium in Dublin.

OK, so the last one isn’t that bad (unless you live in Dublin) but the first two are definitely not exactly what you would call pleasant reading.

Even regional news, where you could normally find an abundance of cats being rescued and children being praised, has gone all dark and depressing. It’s more like reading Tom Rob Smith than the Greendale Reporter.

It makes you wonder, why is there not a publication dedicated solely to good news?

Think about it, daily feel-good stories about heroic pets and pensioners who run marathons for charity and regularly save babies from burning buildings. I’m sure the market is out there.

Newsgathering may prove a little more difficult that usual but teething problems could be straightened out - new sources would become available.

You only have to look at the Pride of Britain Awards to see a huge market that is relatively untouched. Advertisers would pay thousands to have their products being shoved in the faces of people so happy that they will open their wallets quicker than they can open their hearts to news that a miracle baby has been born healthy against all the odds.

(I decided at this point it would be a good idea to google the competition)

I am fully aware of the Good News Network and Happy News websites, but they are simply not good enough. No matter what Apple tell you, not everybody is sitting around reading news on their iPads. We need to get this thing into the homes of those gullible enough to believe the world has solved all of it’s problems – like the elderly and the religious – in the form of a national weekly newspaper.

I’m willing to offer my services in the role of editor in chief, and I’ll need a team of feel-good Gradults to help me pull it together. We recently saw Gradulthood conduct its first competition, and now we are moving into recruitment.

Of course, there are a few stumbling blocks. Funding, sustainability, printing, distribution, to name but a few. But I’m sure most of these are the kind of minor setbacks that eventually sort themselves out in good time.

To apply, send a cover letter, CV, and sample feel-good story to gradulthood@gmail.com and we shall look forward to hearing from you.

2 comments:

  1. On Monday a woman cut me up on the escalator, then gave me this look like it was my fault for being too slow..

    ..When I'd got to the bottom of the escalator I saw that her bag had split and orange juice was everywhere.

    Do you mean feel good stories like that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha. We could save personal success stories for the glossy pullout on a Saturday.

    ReplyDelete