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Sugarcoating Bad News
Some news are benign enough to be delivered in a straightforward manner. Others, however, may prove too harsh to your intended audience and need to be glazed with a little bit of candy in order to make it more palatable.
Sugarcoating bad news is often referred to as spin, a way of delivering the same subject while managing to create a better overall impression. Bad news, after all, can leave a bad taste in the mouth that even the best English writing software can dilute. Why ruin everyone’s day when a bit of tact can deliver it with a tinge of sweetness?
1. Reframe a negative fact by restating it in terms of positive actions.
A statement like, “Ten people died of swine flu at the local hospital” can cause immediate and undue panic. Restating it to say that “Health officials are managing the swine flu situation at the local hospital, where ten fatalities have been previously reported.” While it says the same thing (e.g. 10 people died), the second makes it appear that the situation is within control, while the first one just states a scary fact.
2. Understate the negative characteristics by speaking in terms of its positive counterpart.
Instead of saying a play was, “boring,” you can always play nice and state that it “isn’t as exciting” as you’d hoped. Basically, take the opposite of a negative description and use that in your sentence instead.
3. Use general terms instead of specific ones, if the details aren’t overly appetizing.
This is, essentially, what politicians tend to overdo in their speeches and it’s as irritating as hell. However, no one can deny it’s effectiveness. Instead of saying that “students will be required to submit to drug-testing,” a less-informative but more positive alternative will be to state that “steps will be undertaken to ensure a drug-free student body.” There are no specific about what it entails, which allows more people to just accept it at face value.
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