Rick:
Let’s ask Isolde right away.
Isolde and Florian from good news for you are here with us.
How has it grown?
Meanwhile there is good news for you TV!
Isolde:
To be honest, I still can’t believe that.
Three years ago I never would have dreamt that good news for you TV would start now.
We already have great feedback anyway and we have achieved so much.
We helped realizing projects. We initiated big donation campaigns.
And we also made a significant contribution to the realization of a zero waste shop in the city thanks to crowdfunding.
There is a lot of things we could realize.
Cirta:
What happens to you when you get such good news?
Isolde:
There is very different good news.
There is good news you can use.
Because there is an important event or an important tip.
And there is good news which come in the form of extraordinary human beings.
Most of the times those are people with such a great heart who stand up for a good cause.
Then I get goose bumps everywhere, I really feel it.
It’s like a barometer: It makes my heart beat faster and it electrifies me.
Then I know I have to keep at it.
When we have good news we are not sure about … I have a wonderful team.
For example Florian who kept believing in this idea right from the beginning.
Because that wasn’t easy all the time.
And then we also have Kristin on board.
And the three of us always make the right decision in the end.
Rick:
How do you decide, Florian? What’s an important factor to you?
Florian:
It’s actually more of a feeling.
You find a topic and then you think: Wow, that is definitely a good news for you!
It is the people in particular who promote certain projects.
That is also my task for our portal.
When I read it, I can tell if it’s right for us.
This is a project, these are people whom we want to introduce and whose ideas we want to bring out into the world.
Cirta:
Isolde, do you think something happens to people when they read good news for you?
Isolde:
Yes. We receive lots of messages.
In particular from people who may not express themselves in public like that.
For example, if our newsletter – the “telegram” – which announces the next good news doesn’t show up, the question comes up:
„We thought something was wrong with you … Or you might no longer exist.“
They really see this as a Sunday-reading and put other newspapers and media aside.
People are telling us we changed them step by step very slowly.
Although we really aren’t moralizing.
I want to give an example:
A good friend and international active entrepreneur has a little son.
He once wrote me from a small café in Italy – he just had the time – that our good news is actually making him reflect in the long term:
For example when it comes to ecological issues you actually have to deal with that topic, if only for the sake of your children.
Meanwhile I know, that he ensures to implement certain sustainability criteria more in his company, for example, in normal operating procedures.
This seems very subtle, step by step. That’s just wonderful!
Rick:
Some might say now that good news is a kind of whitewashing the reality.
What do you think?
Florian:
I don’t see it that way.
I think it’s a different attitude that you take.
You don’t gloss over stories, but you see them from another point of view.
As they say: There are always two sides to every coin.
And this other side, which may also get lost in the reporting and which is worth reporting on, we want to show.
Personally it has changed me a lot because you approach issues from another perspective – to not only see the bad side but also the other one and then realize:
Hey, there is something good, too!
Isolde:
I would like to say something else about this, because this is a very important experience for us:
We have found out that roughly two thirds of good news are based on bad news.
This means we have to understand first, what is that bad news?
What’s so wrong with that?
And then people try to change it.
By the way, these are very often young people who want to change something with projects, new services and new products.
For instance, that we no longer need so much packaging.
There is a company, for example, that produces backpacks out of plastic waste.
Another company turns it into sunglasses.
First I have to know what happens to the seas, the oceans and then the solution comes up.
We show different perspectives which already exist, but which get too little attention.
Rick:
Let me get this straight. You are trying to turn bad news into good news?
Or how can you change the bad news so that they become good news?
Isolde:
No. The media very often focus on the things that cause fear and insecurity because that’s something you listen to immediately, because it could put you in danger yourself.
Then we often lean back and look at it …
Let’s look at these very difficult times when people are losing their jobs.
And then suddenly there are people who come up with something.
They see: Someone is unemployed here and someone is needed here.
And then they bring people through their services together.
We can’t just change everything on our own.
But we can show another perspective.
Because often the solution lies in a different perspective.
And there are so many people who are so creative and imaginative that sometimes I think to myself:
This is really incredible! This is amazing!
I have a really nice pair of sunglasses, they are completely made of ocean waste.
You would never notice. That’s an Italian designer – awesome!
Cirta:
Now I „have to“ ask you anyway … What was the first moment you knew, now I want to make good news for you?
Isolde:
Huuch …
Rick:
What happened to you saying now is the time?
Isolde:
There is actually a special experience to it.
I was at an advanced training course in Berlin.
This was a day especially organized for people who want to start a solo business and we all could throw all our ideas into the basket.
After all there were 80 of us.
And three got picked out and I was one of them.
So I went ahead and presented the first tender attempts – good news for you.
And that’s where I realized, okay, there is potential in it.
But there was something else that has driven me – always has.
I just believe in the good, in the heart.
Because the people who are not in such a good mood at the moment, you can bring out the good in them.
This is so much fun, so much fun.
It just is.
Rick:
Florian, do you have a good news where you’d say, that stuck in my mind?
I was particularly moved by it?
Florian:
I can’t really say, because every good news you work on is something special.
Each has its own peculiarity, because the people behind it are special.
Because the topic behind it is perhaps particularly moving.
I always think it’s great when people engage themselves selflessly and only for others, sacrificing their free time and simply dedicating themselves to a good cause.
Recently, one of our topics was „boringly normal superheroes“.
This is a group from the Berlin area and they dress up as superheroes – in the costumes one knows and imagines – and then go to schools, take part in events, just to bring the good cause forward.
I find people who simply want to get involved admirable.
There are so many projects that we present.
… I couldn’t make a decision.
Cirta:
I absolutely must get to know them, I do not know them personally yet.
I love that!
Isolde:
You’ll have everything from Superman to other wonderland luminarities.
They do neighbourhood assistance. They also help in difficult times so that people have something to eat.
They really do everything.
Where help is needed in our society, the boringly normal superheroes are here to help.
Cirta:
Is there actually someone you would like to meet specifically on this topic?
Isolde:
No. I have also interviewed several celebrities.
And that very often follows a certain pattern.
Sometimes I get the feeling there’s already so much publicity around.
It would take much longer than you have time to get to the actual point.
That’s why I like normal people best.
They sometimes have something in their repertoire, you won’t find that anywhere else.
You just get it as a gift.
They have such a big heart and that’s what motivates people.
That’s what connects us all.
That’s the direction in which it should go again.
Because if we open our hearts, we will find a solution for everything.
And if we really care about others.
Rick:
With all the input that’s coming in, this an endless flow of energy!
So how does Isolde actually relax?
Isolde:
This energy flow is connected with infinite joy and with infinite happiness.
I know, for example – and there are studies on this – that in newsrooms that are always about this heavy stuff, people are pretty miserable.
Because what happens if you are constantly fed with fear, with danger?
You get small, you get frightened, you fall back, you retreat to safety.
But if you open your heart when you have this other news then suddenly you realize, wow, it’s all in me!
Yeah, awesome!
And then there are others that will carry you along!
And then you realize, „Hey, I can do that as well!“
This source of happiness is in fact a tremendous power source.
Of course, I have to come down once in a while.
I meditate regularly which I have been doing for two and a half years now.
I have also increased it and so I meditate in the morning and in the evening to simply come back to rest and to myself.
My family is very important to me and a few dear friends, whom I admit I don’t see that often anymore, but those who are very close to me understand me.
Also, they always encourage me to keep at it.
Then they say: „If you don’t do this now, who’s going to do it?!“
It’s like a calling, it’s really like a calling.
Cirta:
Then you could also say that good news has changed your life…
Isolde:
Yes.
I have become more conscious.
I realized I don’t need that much to be happy.
I think I manage to live more in the moment – not perfectly, but also to take a step back and see what is really important and valuable in this life.
In these times in which we are moving, we notice it all the more:
The most important thing is really the connection between people and the love between people.
And also the love for everything – we hear it now right here –, for the animals, for nature.
We would have paradise on earth.
And we work a little for that.
Rick:
Because you just mentioned working … There is actually so many good news portals.
What is special about this one, Florian? What is unique? Florian himself …
Isolde:
Yes, absolutely!
Florian:
The special thing is that we do not simply copy or search in any way and take a message one to one, because it might sound good.
It is particularly important to us that we also have personal contact with the people behind projects.
We attach great importance to talking to people on the phone, talking to them in person, just to learn more about the background.
Rick:
Has it ever happened to you that you were in a conversation and realized that this is not good news?
Florian:
So far actually rarely. Because behind every idea a person has – there is a certain goal.
Of course, he may have a goal that doesn’t fit our portal right now.
But then we always realized in afterwards:
People have a vision and this vision – even if it is outside the norm – Is worth reporting on.
Cirta:
Is there ever a situation where you say that you were really annoyed by it, that you were angry …
Isolde:
Anger or angry … that’s less the case.
Sad, things make me sad.
I would like to take the following example:
At the turn of the year we reported on a project in Africa.
It’s about a young man who himself was adopted as an orphan by a foster mother and who is infinitely grateful for that.
Orphans hardly have a chance in this country – I don’t even know which state that was.
And he got an education and wanted to give that back to other orphans.
He’s fighting for about 40 children, that they get a home, that he can build a school.
He stays in Africa, he’s there with his children.
And we have supported this with a report so that people would be donating.
And then you have people on social media channels saying,
„Then they shouldn’t have sex so much…“ or something like that.
The usual hater comments.
That makes me sad.
Behind such statements there is usually again, probably a great dissatisfaction, also a great need.
Mostly we then delete the comment the moment it’s below the belt.
If we think there might be a message that fits, we then offer, if he or she has a project to report on, they should get in contact with us.
That we report on it the same way.
We see that the problems we have in this world can only be changed across borders, all people together.
We don’t make any differences.
It’s something that often makes me sad …
Often „do-gooders“ are used as a swear word.
Where I think to myself, „Hey guys, if they didn’t exist, the quality of our lives wouldn’t be so good.“
Rick:
Finally, perhaps one more question, which is always very important to me personally.
What’s important to you? How do you see it all evolving in the future?
We have just said that three years ago nobody would have thought that there is good news for you TV now. What is your desire? What does Isolde wish for?
Isolde:
That people have the courage to open their hearts.
Nothing bad will happen to you.
If anything, you’ll get back an infinite amount.
You can start, for example, by smiling at everyone you meet when you leave the house in the morning.
And then see what happens.
Two years ago we did a smile campaign, it’s incredible.
For example, you go to the bakery and smile at the woman who sells you the rolls.
She might not be in a good mood, and you say, „Oh, it’s not going too well today, is it?“
Then you wish her a nice day.
One hundred percent – you’re in a better mood because you gave something.
And the woman is in a better mood.
And if we all do this, if we start to open our hearts, to be more conscious, I swear to you: The world will look completely different in five years!
Rick:
If you just have the courage to do it.
Often it is just courage.
What does Florian wish for?
Florian:
If we manage to put a smile on people’s faces with our good news or our good news telegram and maybe even give them an impetus to stand up for a better world themselves, then we have already achieved a lot.
Rick:
Many thanks for this great conversation!
Is there anything else I need to ask you?
Cirta:
What I would still like to know is, how does the good news come to you?
Do you ask your acquaintances, „Tell me, is there anything great you’ve been doing lately?“
How do you get the good news?
Florian:
The exciting thing is, it comes from all directions.
On one side we find good news, because we do our own research – in certain directions and on certain sites –, where you get supplies for your own good news.
Sometimes the good news literally flies at you.
Either from friends or because someone heard or recommended us something.
We also get messages, „Hey, that story would be good for your portal.“
That’s the beauty of it, it comes from all directions.
Isolde:
You spread it. You’ll be a magnet someday.
Imagine you’re walking through town like this.
What do you get then? Nothing.
And then, for example, you walk openly through the city, then you get a smile there, and there …
You get into a conversation.
Asking questions, listening to people, talking to them –
You’re all ears when you work longer with good news. You really pull it in like a magnet.
And what else I notice: not every good news fits with every time.
You attract the good news that this or that time requires.
Cirta:
Great! Well, that’s a good thing you won’t have to dig forever, but that it sort of jumps at you or comes to you.
Isolde:
I have a good example of this, right now, this weekend.
There’s the good news of the week the Pegasus Family.
And then surprisingly our third good news was cancelled.
And what happened?
5 minutes later Katharina from Switzerland sends me an impulse which I had asked her for weeks ago.
I hadn’t even thought of it at all.
And this impulse fits so perfectly with the topic of the good news of the week:
Engaging the unknown.
Because the Pegasus family lives that way.
And now Catherine comes up with an impulse of how you manage to dare to do something new – with an exercise that seems simple.
You have to step over his shadow, but when you try that …
You have to break down barriers, but if you try that …
So, as I said, there is something like a providence, a guidance – whatever.
Rick:
Has good news taught you anything?
Isolde:
To trust life and love yourself more.
Rick:
What a lovely closing, Isolde.
Thank you very much for this interview.
Cirta:
Thank you.
It’s really wonderful that we can now bring this into the world with good news for you TV.
That’s really fantastic.
I feel much better!
Isolde:
… And I’d like to say right now:
Both of you …! Sometimes I feel like the starmoney girl, holding up the apron and then – Florian anyway – you two come down.
I just think, this is awesome! This is awesome!
Now we have good news for you TV! With absolutely great professionals.
And you two are such lovely people!
I swear to you: You’ve gotten yourselves into something, you don’t know it yet.
Rick:
And yes, you, you don’t know it yet either 😉
And we’ll clarify how we’re going to proceed in a moment.
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