Article
Christians And The Media?
Sam Buckingham-Jones, 18th May 2022
How do we engage with the media as Christians?
On my first day studying journalism at university, a lecturer brought in a small mountain of newspapers from four of Sydney’s major news outlets. We had 15 minutes to read them. “This should be a daily routine,” she told us. “You just need to read the headline and the first three sentences.”
Not everyone will read four entire newspapers every day. But, every day, just about every one of us will read or consume media of some sort. It could be a social post from a friend, influencer or brand we like. It could be a billboard, a podcast, an email, an ad in an app, or it could be a newsletter. Aussies each see about 44 ads every day, on average. It’s a question worth considering: As Christians, how should we read and engage with the media? As a journalist, I want to make three points in answer to this question: with understanding, with empathy, and with confidence.
Understanding
Let’s cut right to it: Almost every dedicated media company is a business. Its primary goal is to make money, usually by selling ads or subscriptions. But as businesses go, media companies – and especially news outlets – are unusual. There’s a sense of purpose or moral responsibility that, unlike perhaps a plumber, barista or architect, news outlets should do their job in a certain way. There’s also an element of entertainment. A Scottish writer called Robert Louis Stevenson said, ‘Everyone lives by selling something’. Plumbers sell quality work. Baristas sell quality coffee. And, in an ideal world, journalists and the media sell quality information and trust. Trust is hard to get, easy to lose.
In a few days, every adult in the country will cast their vote in the federal election. Elections are particularly vicious times to work in the media. A veteran advertiser called Ted Horton (you can blame him for the Coles “Down, Down” ads) put it this way: “In politics, do you spend your time saying, ‘Buy this cat food’? Or do you spend your time saying, ‘if you feed your cat that cat food it’ll die’?”
Clearly, the second (negative) option is far more effective at changing behaviour. Likewise, news outlets don’t write stories about the bad things because they’re being vindictive – it’s because people read about those far more. A callous (but accurate) sentiment that I heard many times working in the media is this: one fatality in your hometown equals 10 fatalities elsewhere in your country, which equals 100 somewhere else in the world.
I believe these are clear signs of a fallen world in which sin exists. It shows the need for the unmerited grace of a loving Saviour, Jesus. He died to save people who are unbelievably broken, myself included.
Empathy
But for all its flaws, the media can be a force for justice and for good. I love the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus spoke through parables, I think, because the way we relate to one another and explain complex ideas is often through stories. In six verses in Luke, chapter 25:30-36, Jesus explains the injustice and hypocrisy of a Levite and priest ignoring an injured man as well as the redeeming love of the Samaritan who stopped to help. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Jesus asked an expert in the law. “The one who had mercy on him,” he replied. Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Christians should engage with the media with an eye for justice. It should break our hearts that a sovereign, peaceful country like Ukraine is invaded by a hostile nation. It should rend our us that 10 people were massacred in a racially motivated mass shooting in the US this month.
Often it doesn’t. But hearing about these injustices is one way we can be reminded to pray and act. And we don’t always appreciate the power of the prayers we pray at church, in our Gospel Communities, or even in the quiet of our thoughts. As Matt Sparks wrote, we aren’t citizens of this world. Rather, we’re citizens of heaven. The whole world has been groaning, Paul writes in Romans 8, as in the pains of childbirth right up till now. Creation is waiting “in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
Confidence
Finally, we should engage with the media with confidence. It can be harrowing watching the injustice and brokenness of the world on the evening news. Every person you see there is someone who needs the love of Jesus. I remember wiping away tears at my desk one day after reporting about the death of a two-year-old girl. She was the same age as my niece at the time, and she’d been fatally hit by a car. It floored me. But there is hope. God sent his only Son to die, covering every sin we’ll ever commit – all we need to do is trust in Him. “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” David wrote in Psalm 34. “Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Jesus sits on the throne, as James Ayre wrote, and one day he will return and make all things new. Regardless of the result of the election, Brianna Reeves wrote, God has already won. That doesn’t contradict the empathy and passion for justice we should hold, but rather it should underpin how we approach the media. It should give us confidence in the goodness of God. This is a fallen world – that is so evident on Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, or the Sydney Morning Herald every day. But we set our hope on the grace that will be brought when Jesus returns (1 Peter 1:13).
Revelation 21 is a beautiful image of a new Heaven and new Earth: “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”