People prefer to report bad news to happy news

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Why is it that people insist on relaying bad news?

My Mother was like this and a woman at work is just the same. They'll hear some horrific story on the news and no matter how many times I tell them I don't want to hear it and that I don't want to know, they insist on telling me.
It's as though they get some sort of kick out of sharing it around and the more horrific and macabre it is, the bigger the kick they get out of telling you.

Even when they're telling me and I'm saying, "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!", they can't help themselves and have to keep telling me. This is why I don't own a television, radio or read the news papers. And then they defeat my efforts by blabbing it out at me even when I tell them, I don't want to know about it. I know a lot of evil stuff happens in the world. I don't need or want the gory, horrific specifics.

Why is this? Does anyone know?

I thought it was like getting a poison out of their system.

Things like this reminds me of when I read The Hobbit years ago, and the author mentions how while Bilbo and the dwarfs were staying with the elves there was little to tell about about it because it was just too good. He says how it's a strange thing but good things aren't usually that interesting to talk about or take little time to describe while things that are bad or even gruesome seem to always be more interesting or take a lot of description.

I understand what he meant. Whenever critics review a universally bad movie or a video game, it's always more entertaining to hear them say how awful it is and they tend to be more creative with their words. Most people do not enjoy having to get surgery or suffer a nasty stomach virus but seem to like talking about it afterwards, even if it makes others squeamish. Many people love hearing about drama that they would absolutely not want happening to them but their own lives are usually so mundane they can't get enough of it. I think my personal life has been a bit too dramatic as it is.

Lol, not Ronald Reagan, he always let someone else report bad news while he only announced good things. Why do think he was so popular and still is to this day, it's not because he was an actual good president. He sold out the hundreds of millions of Americans to the banks during his presidency and we're still writhing in that world in America.

Sorry to bring politics into your thread

People spout off all the bad things today because it's an attention getter, it makes the news exciting and emotional, which = more viewers/subscribers. And that equals more and more money.