AS I walked into the newsroom shortly before 9am on Friday, my colleague looked up from his computer to tell me the grim news: a father had killed his three children before taking his own life. His wife had walked out on him.

As he finished telling me about the tragedy, he received an SMS - a family friend was filing for divorce after her husband, a lawyer, had beaten her. They also have three kids.

The crime reporter who had kept track of the family murder in Seri Kembangan since midnight had another news item to report. A Malaysian was murdered by a group of foreigners after a quarrel. The man had picked a fight after having too much to drink.

It was a depressing start to the day. There has been too much bad news over the past few months, even for seasoned journalists like me who are seldom shocked by what we see or hear.

On Thursday, we learned that all the seven people on board the Bell 206 Hornbill Skyways helicopter that crashed at Mount Murud on July 12 had been confirmed dead.

Just a day earlier, the media reported the gruesome murder of a young couple, Pok Chua Wen and Chong Pui Wan, near an abandoned pond in Bahau, Negri Sembilan. It was a senseless killing by two robbers.

Police, meanwhile, have yet to arrest those responsible for the brutal murder of MCA Youth leader Mah Ann Ann. All five people remanded over the case were freed last week.

Then there was the murder of final-year law student Darren Kang at a restaurant in Sri Hartamas. A number of people, including foreigners, have been arrested and charged in court.

At dinner functions, I have been asked why the media continued to highlight such tragedies. Readers need cheering up, suggested my fellow diners, adding that there must be more happy news to make newspapers brighter.

I wish there were. Editors and reporters, at least those in The Star, have agreed to strive for more feel-good reports that would put a smile on the faces of readers in the morning. One editor even wanted a page to be devoted to happy news, although he wasn't sure whether there would be enough of such news.

Surely, there must be more inspiring stories like the determination of medical student Lennard Lee who swam across the English Channel. But, in reality, there are more sad stories to tell than happy ones.

My friend, Datuk Kalimullah Hassan, the group chief editor of New Straits Times, wrote recently that he, too, asked his fellow editors for more happy stories.

I often have people telling me that the world is no longer as safe as it used to be. This is not necessarily so. History students would tell you that the world was worse before.

In Malaysia, during the Japanese Occupation and the Emergency, no one could tell whether family members would return home in the evening after work. Life was that unpredictable.

We now have more access to information. We have watched in horror on the Internet how Islamic militants beheaded their hostages even as TV stations banned these visuals because they were too gruesome.

Newspapers have been blamed for reporting the spate of crime but there is no point in shooting the messengers. We in the media also feel that enough is enough.

It is time for Malaysians to join hands with the police in fighting crime. We must be more concerned with the source and the root causes of these crimes. Besides insisting on the presence of policemen everywhere, Malaysians need to educate themselves on self-protection.

Bureaucrats and politicians should be more concerned about solving cases instead of complaining about the media reporting on crime. We should not sweep our problems under the carpet or pretend they don't exist.

Despite the many reports of snatch thefts and the media printing pictures of bags women should avoid carrying, how many of these crime prevention reports have been taken seriously by the people?

We advise our young to stay away from isolated and dark spots but how many young people would heed such advice? We tell our children to walk away from a fight but you would often encounter the rage of motorists if you're a little slow in giving way.

More couples, we are told, have given up the institution of marriage for career and personal pursuits. Families have broken up while foreign maids have taken over the role of mothers.

Worse, we never had so many foreigners in Malaysia before. The sadder part is that many seem to be able to obtain permanent resident status despite being labourers and maids.

But I am an optimist. The news reports for the past weeks, I believe, must have shocked many Malaysians. Things can improve if we pray hard enough.