"It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of
our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely
of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has
fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters
that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding. Yet this latter fact
is fundamentally more exciting, as indicating that that moving
tower of terror and mystery, a man, is still abroad upon the
earth. That the man has not fallen off a scaffolding is really
more sensational; and it is also some thousand times more common.
But journalism cannot reasonably be expected thus to insist upon
the permanent miracles. Busy editors cannot be expected to put on
their posters, 'Mr. Wilkinson Still Safe,' or 'Mr. Jones, of
Worthing, Not Dead Yet.' They cannot announce the happiness of
mankind at all. They cannot describe all the forks that are not
stolen, or all the marriages that are not judiciously dissolved.
Hence the complex picture they give of life is of necessity
fallacious; they can only represent what is unusual. However
democratic they may be, they are only concerned with the
minority." -- G.K. Chesterton, The Ball and the Cross
[
thanks to
marnanel
for quoting it earlier]