Day 146: Put a positive spin on negative information by writing not + [positive term] + [excuse].

When we talk about spin, spinning, or putting a spin on information, we mean writing information in a manner that leads to a particular interpretation. This is used to make good news seem bad or unimportant. This is also used to make potentially unpleasant information seem more acceptable. Spin is very common in the media and political world, but it is also used in everyday writing and speech. You will have to decide for yourself whether or not this is ethical.

With that said, here is one spin strategy for down-playing information or understating the negative characteristics of some fact, idea, or event. To explain this strategy, we will use the following example sentence.

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“The client was angry that we missed our deadline.”

Now let’s apply this strategy.

 
  1. Determine what word can be used to accurately describe the bad fact, idea, or event. The word describing the client’s feeling is “angry.”
  2. Identify a term that is the opposite or conveys the positive version of the negative descriptor. For example, you might identify happy, satisfied, pleased. Then add not, as in not happy.
  3. Write the reason for the negative attitude from a positive perspective and using positive action words. In this case, instead of writing “we missed our deadline,” you could write “the time needed to produce quality work.” The word “missed” is negative; “produce quality” is a positive action. This step is essential. If you write this from a negative perspective (“not happy that we missed our deadline”), you emphasize the degree of negativity, producing the opposite effect.
  4. Put this all together: “The client was not pleased by the time needed to produce quality work.”
  5. If possible, and if appropriate, put the positive terms at the beginning of the sentences and the “not” phrase at the end. This would give us “Quality work is not produced quickly.”

One more example:

Negative: “The new budget is too expensive for American taxpayers.”
Positive spin: “The new budget will not be cheap as it improves American’s health.”
Even better positive spin: “Improved healthcare is not free.”