Jo Brighouse compares the ease with which a pupil pulling a knife can make negative headlines with the Herculean task of getting positive headlines by winning an Olympic medal (“In media land the only news is bad news”, Comment, 9 November). What she fails to realise is the transience of such negative news. Would you remember the name of a child who pulled a knife in school five years ago? One year ago? Last week? Probably not. Will you remember the name of the man who won, say, the London 2012 Olympic triathlon? Probably, yes.

Good stories appear in the press all the time. Schools and their achieving pupils are excellent sources of copy for local newspapers. Our prep schools frequently see their stories in print. As with anything, if the good news is interesting to enough people it will make national headlines.

David Hanson, Chief executive, Independent Association of Prep Schools.