What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About the News Media
(OPINION) What a time to be in the news business. How we are despised! And trusted about as far as you can throw us.
As a local TV news anchor for decades, I am – for better or for worse, I guess – part of the “mainstream media” (though we are an independent station, not part of a conglomerate). I am also an evangelical Christian and an officer in my local church.
Many of my church friends have permanently raised eyebrows over my being a journalist and a Christian. They see the news media as against them and their values. (A visitor to our church added serious eye-rolling to her eyebrow-raising when I told her I also used to work for the Associated Press. Talk about mainstream.) Naturally, these friends cut me some slack: well, you’re not shady like the rest of them. Thanks.
Are my friends wrong to see the mainstream media as rotten and ridden with “fake news”? Yes. At least in significant ways, they have that wrong. Sure, we make mistakes. We have blind spots and faulty assumptions. But many of the criticisms are off the mark: they misunderstand what journalism is about; they feed a growing sense that there is no agreed upon reality and set of facts to which we can all refer; and, as a Christian I fear they reflect poorly on people who say they love the truth.
Is the news fake?
I have worked in television and radio in a number of places, including Washington, and I can think of no journalist I’ve ever worked with who made up stories. Not one. That does not mean all of them were exemplars of ethical rectitude. (Might you say that about your co-workers, too?) Reporters are people, sinners all, and sometimes things get skewed. But they don’t make it all up.
Ask Bernard Goldberg. The former CBS News correspondent has railed against liberal bias in the media – and not without evidence. Some reporters, Goldberg says, may not hide their anti-Trump bias too well, but “except in the rarest of circumstances, journalists do not make up stories out of nothing just to hurt him.” Take the issue of unnamed sources.
President Trump has said many times that unidentified sources in stories are fake. In May 2018, he tweeted that a “senior White House official” cited by the New York Times was a phony source – a non-existent person. But reporters quickly cried foul: this senior official not only existed, but the White House itself had given notice that this official would be giving a briefing “on background” – that is, not for attribution. Says Goldberg: “When he says the ‘fake news’ media concoct sources to make him look bad, he’s wrong.”
Journalists sometimes make errors. Good journalists correct them. They don’t write fiction.
A blue tint
But surely, my friends say, reporters are liberals – and, to make matters worse, hostile to traditional Christians. I say: most reporters, like academics, are indeed liberals. To use the argot of our current blue-versus-red politics, too many stories (as Goldberg would attest) have a “blue tint” to them. But contrary to what many critics think, there is no “conspiracy” to paint the world blue. It’s just that reporters sometimes allow their assumptions to seep into their work, or color their perceptions about which stories to cover. Actually, many media leaders acknowledge this and see a need for more viewpoint diversity.
The former public editor of the New York Times wrote a column in 2004 entitled: “Is the New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?” His answer: “Of course it is.” It has a sophisticated urban vibe and outlook.
“The mainstream press is liberal,” wrote journalist Thomas Edsall – who exhorted reporters to engage in “individual self-scrutiny” to ensure fair and empathetic coverage of the many Americans whose views reporters might find quaint, exotic or mystifying. Bible-believing Christians, for instance.
My church friends are right: many journalists don’t “get” religious conservatives; many don’t even know any personally. Reporters, like all humans, flock together socially with like-minded people. But the reporters I know want to learn, to overcome their ignorance. The conservative Christian writer David French believes – as I do – that most reporters, no matter how progressive their personal views, work in good faith to be fair and accurate.
One day an editor with whom I worked at Associated Press Radio phoned a well-known liberal group for comment on a “women’s issue” she was covering. When I told her about a conservative women’s group she didn’t know of, she was glad to call them, too – even though she was personally very liberal. She was a professional and wanted to make her story better.
French says the trouble is the “ideological monocultures” of newsrooms: everyone holds progressive views, especially on social issues. Journalists are (mostly) liberal because liberals go into journalism. Why is that? My own theory is that journalists, like academics, have a “reformist” bent, a crusading, let’s-change-the-world spirit; they’re out to right wrongs and make the world a more just place. Those are… good goals, actually. Goals that conservative Christians could embrace. I say, let’s encourage more conservative young people to consider careers in journalism.
To keep in mind
Here are a few things I’d like my Christian friends to know:
News consumers need to be savvy. Read and watch broadly. Not just one cable network. Not just one online news site. Be sure to distinguish between opinion hosts and “straight news” journalists. Glance, at least, at liberal and conservative news and commentary sites for a survey of the left and right “boundaries” on the issues of the day. Tip: Twitter. Most of my news colleagues find Twitter invaluable for tracking the daily torrent of happenings. Follow a few sharp minds on different parts of the political spectrum.
Truth needs champions. News consumers do our society no favors if they declare that journalists, across the board, are liars and fabricators. Sarah Pulliam Bailey, a Christian who covers religion for The Washington Post, writes that imprudent claims that reporters are uniformly dishonest “threaten to undercut the idea that truth exists and that it can and should be pursued.” Amen. The truth, as they say, is out there.
Our society needs a thriving, independent press. Even an aggressive press. Some of my friends scorn reporters they see as hostile and impudent. But some truths are like weeds: they’re hard to dig up without effort. Reporters don’t have to be rude, but they’re paid to press the people in power for answers, to ask “why?” and “what’s the evidence for that?” Don’t begrudge reporters their skepticism; without it, important truths might remain hidden.
Call your local reporter. We get calls from miffed viewers. How can we make the story better? David French says, “The vast majority of reporters do try hard to get the story right… and do not deserve the vitriol and threats they receive.” If you hear something that needs correcting, by all means, call and make your case. Test my hypothesis that reporters want the story to be accurate more than they want it to match their personal views.
Believers have reason, more than most others, to rise above cynicism. The Lord reigns! We can survive being misunderstood or even misrepresented. “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1). Trust the One who is Truth even when truth is unclear.
Pray for journalists. They are your servants. If they are really seeking truth – and society needs them to – then we should pray that they succeed. Some Christians seem to just want reporters to go away. But much vital knowledge would be lost if they got their wish.
Focus on what’s important. Quid novi? What’s new? The British academic Kenneth Minogue observed that journalism answers that old Roman question. But in so doing, it keeps us awash in a stream of events and data points all day – some weighty, some frothy. We must ask: at the end of the day, have we been edified much? Did we grow in wisdom much? “Reflectiveness,” Minogue says, “is diluted by the passion for novelty.” We need to quiet our devices, devalue novelty, and reflect on the Good News that is forever old, forever new, and always true.
Rob Vaughn has been an anchor at WFMZ-TV in Allentown, PA since 1987 (33 years). He holds a B.A. from Temple University and graduate degrees (M.A. , M.Div.) from Biblical (now Missio) Seminary.