"She's got freckles on her, but she is nice."

That title and words from a 1946 song certainly illustrate the need for proper placement of commas. They also illustrate the fun of the clever use of lyrics.

One of my favorite's songs playing clever with words comes from a former country hit: "She got the coal mine, I got the shaft, they split it down the middle and then they gave her the better half."

A few moments of thought bring memories of many more clever lyrics, but that's not the point of this discussion. Nor is comma placement the point. But, the use of "but" is worthy of thought in today's media world.

Rather than accentuate the positive, especially when reporting economic news, media seems bent on negating the positive rather than eliminating the negative. There seems to be a necessity to always include a but, much as one local radio personality likes to note, "there is always a 'however' in life."

You can depend on it. When there is a positive note relative to the economy, it is followed with a but something to make it negative. Is it any wonder our economy is having a difficult recovery? If we have a positive thought about our financial situation, the follow-up but statement is almost sure to negate it. Kind of makes us want to give up the effort.

For example, a recent news story about the thousands of people employed the prior month was followed immediately with the but statement about how many are still unemployed. Now, don't take my thoughts wrong. I have great concern for citizens without a job. I have great empathy for their situation, having been there. However, what is wrong with reporting the positive when there is positive news? It seems there is never any hesitation to report the negative without a positive but statement.

Oh, I know the journalism concept: when reporting a story it is important to tell both sides. But, it seems to me, when there's a negative economy story, that's the story. And when there's a positive economic story, that's the story.

One extreme example, to me at least, was a story on the price of gasoline. Fuel price stories are always important. They are sure to get attention, as the cost of fuel affects all of us, either as drivers or by causing the price of almost everything, including food, to increase.

This story was unusual for recent history because it told of major decreases in the price of gas. It was going down during a relatively short time from the upper to the lower $3 per gallon. And since $3 has become sort of a benchmark for fuel costs, this positive news story would be appreciated by all.

Then came the negative side. The reduced gas prices resulted, of course, from reduced costs for crude oil.

That sounds like positive news also, the kind of news we all appreciate; but, so the story went, the lower cost for crude could cause the value of the dollar to go down. I'm not sure what that means to my daily life, but it would suggest a dollar would not purchase as much. We've become accustomed to our dollar not buying as much, but to be told declining gas prices could be a cause is a real bummer.

If there's a positive home value note, plan on a negative home sales paragraph or a negative sidebar story to remind us of how utterly bad the current housing situation is. There's a good possibility also the story will note how it is not likely to change.

Even though other examples abound I will not continue. There is enough negative economic news out there. But, as I am basically an optimist, I will remain positive without a negative but, wherever the freckles are.

Chuck Ehlert of unincorporated St. Charles County is retired from working in airline public relations and operating group tours. Opinion Shapers are chosen annually to write columns on topics of interest to them.