While at the ETS convention in Washington, D.C. last week I attended a panel discussion called "Evangelicals and the Media." Dr. Darrell Bock organized and hosted the panel, which included Jeanmarie Condon, a producer for ABC News, Nighline, and the Peter Jennings specials on Jesus and Paul a few years back; Richard Osling of AP; Jeffery Sheler, author of Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America; Richard Land, with the Southern Baptist Commission; and Janet Parshall, national radio show host.
It was an insightful discussion. The thing I most appreciated was hearing the secular media representatives talk about their profession because clearly these are people who take the responsibility of their jobs seriously and do their homework to try to get the story right. While there are certainly plenty of reporters who do poor work and write about religion through the lenses of their own biases, that isn't true of all reporters.
There's bias in everyone's take on a subject, but I don't believe that means reporters can't work to be fair. These reporters are concerned that the balance to poor coverage of religion is sometimes the opposite extreme in advocacy. A balkanization of media of competing advocacy is not a good alternative. They pointed out that balance is not too extremes. Instead they advocate that good journalists become knowledgeable about their subject, do their research in order to be accurate, and find people who represent different perspectives. Sheler helped to found the Religion Newswriters Association, which gives annual scholarships to journalists who take courses about the religious groups they cover.
Parshall advocated that Christians who are asked to appear in the media exercise discernment about the invitations they accept. Make sure the issues are substantive ones that matter and encourage a productive tone, rather than the silly issues that simply make Christianity look silly and play into the poor stereotypes. Condon told us that the purely opinion news shows, the shouting match shows, are inexpensive for networks to produce because there are fewer producers, writers, and experts to pay. Instead bookers find the most extreme voices, which usually aren't representative of any significant group. Part of improving media coverage of Christianity is to evaluate our own participation and use of the media so that we encourage serious dialog.
Condon has interviewed literally hundreds of Christian scholars for her programs, and she told us that some says bitter things about each other. They don't limit themselves to contentful disagreement, but personal attacks. Now, that is a very sad witness by people who should know better. It's not just their knowledge that represents Christ.
Parshall pointed out that access to the media isn't necessary for Christians to have an impact in the culture. She encouraged all Christians to use what's covered in the media to discuss these issues with people in their own lives and offer a Christian perspective.
One thought I had listening to the discussion was how hard it must be to cover Christianity because it's such a varied group. There are plenty of takes on one issue from a variety of Christians. One minor example was a question asked by one of the journalists - whether it was correct to pronounce Evangelical with an "E" sound or an "eh" sound. He got two different answers. And part of the problem is that many of these terms, like evangelical and fundamentalist, are used rather loosely. Fair coverage of Christianity requires journalists who are willing to put in the time to understand this varied group. And some media, like electronic, often mitigates against that amount of time. Fortunately, there are some Christians who are working with journalists as a guide to our perspectives about events. Darrell Bock is one of them.
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