The Good News Man

It’s funny how you sometimes don’t really believe in your own ideas. When four years ago I started a “Good News” section on our family website I wanted people to come and read. Who wouldn’t? When you have a site, a blog, or simply put your photos on the web, you want people to come and see.

Now, years later, Good News Blog has become a Newsweek recommended source for positive news stories. The site is talked about in the media, from the USA to Australia.
I can’t claim that as my success. If you’re familiar with my about page that should come as no surprise.

Apart from spiritual reasons I think it’s you. It’s your success. You make your voice heard in a demand for good news. And “they” listen…

CBS recently posted a blog entry titled “Spreading The Good News“. In it they make the case for reporting… good news.

Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, says that such stories are necessary for viewers to get an accurate picture of the world around them. “I think we should be doing this far more frequently simply because these people are part of the American scene — simply from a journalistic point of view, because they represent a piece of the American reality. In some proportion, we should also hold up people who do well, so that they can be copied and emulated. And what the proportion is – 90%-10%; 80%-20% — I don’t know … but some proportion should be finding good.”

Steve Hartman, CBS “Sunday Morning” correspondent, offered a similar perspective, saying that the amount of negative stories on television news offers a “skewed vision of what this country is all about.”

So NBC “Nightly News” started a good news section called “Making a Difference” which highlights positive stories.

"Since we began this series of good news stories about people who are selflessly helping others, we have been utterly overwhelmed by herograms from viewers. In my time at NBC Nightly News I have never, ever, seen anything like it. Most of the e-mails are brief and to the point; they simply thank us for finally — finally — airing some good news. In fact, of the more than 1,000 e-mails we’ve received on this subject alone, there have been only a few sour notes that I have seen, including one that asked, “what, only one piece of good news today?”

“Making a Difference” didn’t happen by accident. It happened because we saw a need, and we saw that need because we heard you."
– John Reiss, executive producer, on The Daily Nightly

CBS News followed up with a CBS “Sunday Morning” Three Good News Stories

Bill Bailey

But long before them, and long before I ever thought about Good News Blog, there was Bill Bailey; the good news man. In 1970 he started publishing the “World’s First Good News Newspaper”. During its 2-year run it had garnered over 30,000 subscribers in 800 cities, 50 states, and 9 foreign countries. He received press coverage in Time Magazine, Associated Press, National Enquirer, and many other international publications.

As Bill shared with me, he was inspired by Norman Cousins ’s statement which now adorns these web pages as well;

“If News is not really news unless it is bad news, it may be difficult to claim we are an informed nation.”

In 1996 Bill published America’s Good News Almanac. He could have done much more but well, life and finances have a habit of getting in the way sometimes. He went through a period of chronic depression, suffered a negative outlook on life and the state of the world, but thanks to his wonderful wife and family recovered completely.

Am I breaking his confidence here? No. Bill likes to share the truth. The good news, which is true, but as he says; “I think all of us go through problems and doubts and fears, and sometimes in our complicated world we doubt our value in it.”

But now he’s back with “The Best of Us“. It’s a whole series of books he’ll be doing, kicking off in 2006-7, with “The Best of Us - 50 Inspiring People Who are Making the World a Better Place”, followed by titles on teachers, medicine, business, politics and government, teens, parenting, and more.

Bill believes caring people can change the world. And he believes positive news deserves its place in order to give us a true balanced view of the world around us. Let me leave you with the story he likes to tell when he talks to high school journalism classes.

In October of 1994 there was a killing in New York city of a 14 year old boy by two teenagers. That story lead the newspapers and TV news for days and days. And yes, it was a tragedy, and it was news.

But, on that very same weekend an event on the cable channel Nickolodeon was taking place that should also have made that same front page and lead story on the news.

That weekend in 1994, Nickolodeon launched its first annual “Big Help” telethon. The idea was to get kids from 6-14 who watch Nickolodeon to call in and pledge some of their time to work in their communities with volunteer groups…a way to teach them the value of volunteerism.

No one at Nickolodeon could foresee the results, for after all, there were no prizes being offered, just an opportunity to pledge some time to help people in their town.

The calls poured in during the 12 hour telethon. At the end, nearly five million kids had pledged over thirty-one MILLION hours of volunteer community service.
Did this story make any headlines? Should it have? Of course it should have. What a tremendous balancing story to place alongside the story of the killing of a 14-year old.

Where did I find this story? It was a one paragraph item under ‘TV Notes’ in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee.

Good news happens every day around here, and I hope in your lives as well. My new book series, THE BEST OF US, will soon be launched. To refresh your memories, I plan on at least 20 of THE BEST OF US books over the next 7 years.

The first THE BEST OF US will be 50 Inspiring Everyday People Who are Making the World a Better Place, and will be followed by THE BEST OF US in Business, Medicine, Teachers, Politicians, Inventors, Parents, Teens, Sports, and more. (Think Chicken Soup for The Soul, which has sold over 90 million copies of their series since its launch 10 years ago.)

I’m writing you all today because in the next 60 days the first edition of THE BEST OF US will be published, and I have a very exciting sponsor package for individuals, and companies to participate in that will finance the publishing arm, my company, Dry Creek Press.

I want to tell you how you, as an individual can sponsor for less than the cost of 30 cups of coffee at Starbucks, and not only get your name inside the book as a Supporter of THE BEST OF US, but also get free copies of every book in the series, and discounts of 50% for gift purchases for family and friends.

Before I tell you the details on individual sponsorships, I’d like to ask all of you to direct any business people you know to go tomy blog, www.thebestofusbooks.com, , or my Dry Creek Press website and click on our sponsor info, to get the full details of how companies can benefit from the powerful branding of THE BEST OF US with sponsor profiles inside the books, web site banners and links, and profiles in THE BEST OF US magezettes, and other materials, including radio and TV., its all there for them to read and act upon.

Now, here’s the scoop on how you can help as an individual sponsor:

There are 4 levels of sponsorship:

Bronze: 100.00

1. 2 autographed and personally inscribed copies of each The Best of Us books as they are published, with the first The Best of Us book publication date by May 1, 2006.
2. 2 names, any 2 names you designate, to be printed in each edition on a special supporters page.
3. 50% discount on all editions of The Best of Us in unlimited quantities at any time for gifts or personal use.
4. 5% of your sponsorship will be donated by Dry Creek Press to buy Teddy Bears for Comfort for Court Kids, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles that provides free teddy bears for kids going through the court process, via foster homes, child abuse, and other children’s legal issues. So far, Ernestine Field’s organization has been able over the past years to hand out over 500,000 free Teddy Bears, and needs help to keep doing this wonderful program.
5. The most important thing you get out of this is that your sponsorship will insure that The Best of Us can keep publishing positive inspirational stories.

By Check and Mail: Make check payable to DRY CREEK PRESS and mail to: DRY CREEK PRESS, 5753 Cada Circle, Carmichael, CA 95608.

If you have questions, please call me personally, BILL BAILEY at 916-218-6036.

Don’t delay if you want to help as we need you now!

May the best of life always be yours,
Bill Bailey

There is a magic to early morning. The silence is like a soft blanket, and as I sit at my patio table on my deck, and look up at the stars, the tranquility soothes me and makes me grateful to be a part of the world for another day.

This morning was no different than any other, and as I began to ponder the subject of this newsletter, the silence was broken by a ‘whap!’ sound hitting the wooden deck.

It startled me at first, as I couldn’t figure out what would be falling that would hit the deck hard enough to make a sound that loud. Since I only had a small lamp on the table, I knelt down and felt around to see if I could feel anything, and my hand came upon a small spherical object, and I picked it up and brought it to the light.

It was an acorn. An ordinary, little acorn.

The mystery about it is that there is not a single oak tree within 2 blocks of my house!

So where did this little acorn come from? And what meaning did it have for me, falling at my feet this early November morning?

Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe someone threw it at 3 0’clock in the morning and it landed on my deck. Perhaps a bird flying overhead with the acorn in its mouth dropped it. Or…I was being sent a message.

I held the acorn in my hand, looking at it, feeling it, turning it over and over and wondered…what message could there possibly be in a little acorn?

And then, I got the message.

Here is what I believe the message is. I am putting together the stories for The Best of Us, 50 Inspiring People Who are Making The World a Better Place, and in writing about these inspirational people, my hope is that by getting their stories out it will inspire others to find the best in themselves, and know that in all of us the best is there, within us.

And so it is with the acorn. As I held it, I saw what it held inside. Inside that tiny acorn was a giant oak tree.

Now you couldn’t cut that acorn open and find that oak tree, but you know its there. The message of that acorn was, and is, we all have greatness inside us, sometimes we don’t see it, because all we see is the acorn, but it is there, waiting to grow.

I’m going to plant that acorn today. And one day, it will be an oak tree. I am also going to plant the seed of hope in what I write today, and tomorrow, and for the rest of my life. And it will grow also. Hope is every bit as powerful as that little acorn, and it abounds in all of us, waiting to grow to the reality from which it sprung. The Best of Us..in all of us.