Give the Press a Fair Shake

I must confess that I get a little bored with the same incessant bantering of radio talk show hosts going off on extreme tangents. The one that seems to reappear more often than any is the constant barrage against our country's media. Does this mean that I agree with everything that comes from a newspaper piece or is broadcast across the television set? Hardly, but nor do I subscribe to everything that comes from the mouth of conservative talk show hosts. I think it is unfortunate that a lot of society has become so ingrained with their way of looking at things that they just make generalities without any basis. Certainly there are those who have scandalized within this field, e.g. CBS with the "Dan Rather" situation. Nevertheless, there have been scandals to color just about every profession there is (certainly preachers are no exception as we can all readily attest). That is no excuse, however, for thoughtful discernment in being a victim to what I like to call "verbal diarrhea."

If nothing else gives us pause, let it be the example of the reporter named Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old reporter from the Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped by terrorists January 7 in Iraq. Although some of us might not agree with its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Science Monitor is hardly religious, although it is owned by the church Eddy founded, the First Church of Christian Scientist in Boston. Jill Carroll, however, was a woman who from what I can tell wanted to make a difference in life by what she wrote. I could only dream of this blog making a ripple. But, essentially she was an idealist who wanted to use her ability to write to portray the truth. I sincerely hope that Jill survives this terrible plight, but regardless her life is to be commended in that it exemplifies the very thing that the Iraqis and our U.S. soldiers and others are fighting for over there- freedom. Jill Carroll was in a war zone practicing her freedom of the press. She is learning what those fighting already know, freedom does not come without a price.

But why should this have any relevance to the issue of demonizing our nation's press? Because it is just this example that should make us wary of categorizing and stereotyping people or occupations. Certainly I have talked to enough people who have made comments to me (as a pastor) that smacks of the same verbal tactic. Like, "all you Christians are just the same," i.e. hypocrites. Or, "oh yeah, you Southern Baptists hate homosexuals." We are all familiar with these examples, and we all do it (yes, even me). We all fall victim to generalities, but let us ponder this moment and stop stereotyping our media. That doesn't mean that we blindly accept everything that someone writes or reports. Respecting the job that the press has is no excuse for intellectual laziness, either. One must discerningly weigh each writer and each segment that they write. You mean we might actually have to exert some careful judgment, and we might have to exercise some diligent effort to read more than one source? Yeah, I think that is similar to the same thing that we expect of our reporters. Why should it be any different for us?