The Lifespan of Good News in Politics

A Lost Battle Against Bad News and Social Media

In politics, not all news is created equal. A “good news story” – a successful reform, a drop in unemployment, a diplomatic agreement – rarely lives more than a few days in the media spotlight. In contrast, a “bad news story” – a scandal, a blunder, a poorly chosen phrase – spreads, repeats, swells, and ends up taking permanent hold in public opinion. This asymmetry, amplified by social media, is deeply transforming the relationship between citizens and those who govern.

Good News: Short-Lived

Positive political news is structurally fragile.

• Limited media lifespan: it makes headlines for 24 to 48 hours at most.

• Low sharing on social media: it lacks emotional charge and doesn’t go viral.

• Biased perception: often viewed as “normal,” it rarely builds durable political capital.

Yet Emmanuel Macron can claim several tangible successes:

1. Economy and Employment

• Sharp drop in unemployment: falling below 7% in 2023, its lowest level in 15 years.

• Economic attractiveness: France remained the leading destination for foreign investment in Europe for six consecutive years (EY Barometer).

• Structural reforms: transformation of unemployment insurance and an emphasis on professional training.

2. Public Health and the Pandemic

• Covid-19 vaccination campaign: though it began slowly, France ultimately achieved one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe.

• Massive hospital support with the “Ségur de la santé” plan (2020) and historic salary increases for healthcare staff.

3. Energy Transition and Environment

• Expansion of renewables: launch of the first offshore wind farm (2022) and strong growth in solar energy.

• Revival of nuclear power: announcement of six new EPR reactors and extension of existing plants.

• Hydrogen plan and major investment in electric batteries.

4. Industrial Policy and Sovereignty

• Targeted reindustrialization: new gigafactories for batteries (Dunkirk, Douai) and semiconductor plants.

• Support for innovation: “France 2030,” a €30 billion investment plan for future technologies (AI, biotech, space).

5. International Dimension

• European leadership: a driving role in managing the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• Trade and diplomacy: maintaining dialogue with major powers, including in tense contexts (China, Russia).

• European defense: strengthening the EU’s defense capabilities through Franco-German projects (SCAF fighter jet, MGCS tank).

6. Social and Education Policies

• Primary school focus: halving class sizes in CP and CE1 (1st and 2nd grade) in disadvantaged areas.

• Universal National Service (SNU): experimental civic cohesion program.

• Apprenticeship reform: record numbers of contracts signed (over 1 million in 2023).

These are significant achievements, yet they fail to generate lasting political credit: each one is quickly overshadowed by the next controversy.

Bad News: Cumulative and Devastating

By contrast, bad news dominates public debate:

• Emotional amplification: it shocks, angers, and is shared widely.

• Media rebound: each new detail revives the controversy.

• Cumulative effect: it builds into a larger negative narrative.

For Macron, the examples are many:

• Soundbites: “people who are nothing” (2017), “cross the street to find a job” (2018) – minor phrases, out of context, yet turned into lasting symbols of arrogance.

• Benalla Affair (2018): a one-off incident, transformed by the media into a long-running scandal that tarnished Macron’s image.

• Pension reform (2023): rejection deepened by the government’s use of article 49.3 to bypass a vote.

• Yellow Vests movement (2018-2019): emblem of a social and territorial divide, with violent images endlessly replayed.

Each episode adds to a collective memory of failure, overshadowing all successes.

The Devastating Impact of Social Media

Social media worsens this imbalance:

• It favors sensationalism, usually negative.

• It creates echo chambers where criticism is amplified.

• It spreads fake news that shape opinion long after being debunked.

What Numbers Say

Interview of Macron by Brut (2020):

• Viewed by more than 7 million young people on social media. (Le Figaro)

• The TV interview / rolling news coverage gathered more than 6.6 million viewers. (Le Figaro)

• On Snapchat, the “story” generated more than 100 million snap views for this same ephemeral format. (Le Figaro)

➡️ This is an example of good news / good communication, relatively well received.

Presidential election / social videos:

• In a recent month (not precisely specified), all video content about the candidates (official, media, etc.) generated about 482.69 million views. (Ozap)

• Emmanuel Macron accounted for 202.88 million views of this total, i.e., ~42%. (Ozap)

➡️ This shows the scale of visibility a politician can achieve across all content (positive, negative, neutral). But this figure does not distinguish “good news vs bad news.”

Study on “Why social media users like sharing negative news” (Cambridge Judge Business School):

• Users are 1.91 times more likely to share negative news than positive news. (Cambridge Judge Business School)

• On Facebook, negative content is posted ~98% more often than positive content (in certain analyses). (Cambridge Judge Business School)

➡️ This gives a proportion, a ratio, showing that bad news has a much higher potential for virality than good news.

What can be inferred

If a good piece of news (e.g., the interview or a political success) reaches 7 million views among young people, a comparable “bad piece of news” (scandal, controversy) could potentially reach two to three times that figure — or even more — if it triggers emotion, dispute, or outrage, according to the ratios of negative vs positive sharing (1.9× more shares for negative content).

The length of time a bad news item remains “at the top of the topics” is often longer: it generates rebounds (comments, analyses, reposts, op-eds, etc.), whereas a good news item is rarely revisited once published.

Conclusion: A Fragile Democracy

Good news, however numerous, is doomed to fade away. Bad news, by contrast, takes root and shapes collective memory. In this context, French democracy appears ill-equipped to withstand the logic of social media, which thrives on emotion, outrage, and disinformation.

Thus, despite undeniable economic, social, industrial, and diplomatic achievements, Emmanuel Macron will likely be remembered more for controversies than for reforms. Democracy, in France as elsewhere, risks becoming ungovernable under the corrosive weight of this asymmetry.