The big news this week was something that didn't happen. A heavily armed gunman entered a Georgia elementary school, fired several shots and took some front-office employees hostage, including school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff. In an extraordinary act of heroism, she talked the gunman into giving himself up. How? With empathy. Along with proving that guns can be stopped by something other than more guns, the story demonstrated the value of highlighting things that are working. What if the entire media focused 24/7 on the power of empathy and what went right in that Georgia school, just as they would have if they'd gone horribly wrong? What the media chooses to feature influences our culture and our national conversation. It's one reason why HuffPost has launched Impact, Good News and What Is Working sections -- putting the spotlight on extraordinary "ordinary people" and unsung heroes like Antoinette Tuff.
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The big news this week was something that didn't happen. A heavily armed gunman entered a Georgia elementary school, fired several shots and took some front-office employees hostage, including school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff. In an extraordinary act of heroism, she talked the gunman into giving himself up. How? With empathy. Along with proving that guns can be stopped by something other than more guns, the story demonstrated the value of highlighting things that are working. What if the entire media focused 24/7 on the power of empathy and what went right in that Georgia school, just as they would have if they'd gone horribly wrong? What the media chooses to feature influences our culture and our national conversation. It's one reason why HuffPost has launched Impact, Good News and What Is Working sections -- putting the spotlight on extraordinary "ordinary people" and unsung heroes like Antoinette Tuff.

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