This weekend, I'm liveblogging Urbana, a gathering of Christian students interested in the work of the church worldwide.
This afternoon, I blogged a sesion on Christians + Journalism. My response is at the end.
Our speaker, Robert Case, is director of the World Journalism Institute. The WJI is a division of the World News Group. Robert is also the founding chairman of the Francis Schaeffer Institute's board of advisors. The World Journalism Institute's mission, as stated on their website, is to recruit, equip, place and encourage journalists who are Christians into American newsrooms (and also other countries).
Robert's connection to Francis Schaeffer is important to note. Christians who follow the ideas of Francis Schaeffer often believe that Western society has declined from the halcyon days of religious hegemony when the Christian Church dominated culture and politics. Schaeffer's writings were one of the primary intellectual influences on the Religious Right.
Schaeffer's followers also played an incredibly valuable role for Christianity in the middle part of the 20th century. Theirs were some of the only voices encouraging evangelical Christians to consider academic careers and professional life. When they're at their best, Schaeffer's followers function as bridges, helping very conservative evangelicals understand that it's okay to be part of the world outside, and that it's possible to do so while maintaining a strong faith. At their worst, some of Schaeffer's followers promote a paternalistic view of Christian influence in society.
The audience here at Urbana is comprised mostly Christian undergraduates from a wide range of universities, from religious institutions to non-religious ones. Many of them are wondering if being a Christian professional requires them to work only for Christian organisations and Christian causes. Robert offers a theological argument for Christians to work in non-religious news organisations.
Robert starts by claiming that Pew studies frequently unearth bias in journalism. The mission of Christian journalists is to find truth that counterbalances the bias that exists in the media. Robert sets aside blogs and social media, which he thinks are indulgent and unreliable.
(fact check: media bias isn't that simple. Listen to this excellent On The Media episode and follow Pew's research on bias perception)
Robert provides an overview of visions for the role of news in society. Some people believe the role of journalism is to set the cultural agenda by defining the issues that the public discusses (c.f. Hallin's spheres). Journalists are also a watchdog on government. Some people see journalism as a way to maintain established political ideology. Court journalists, "royal lackeys," manufacture and sustain the consent of the government. "Deweyites" (we can hear the scare quotes in his voice) believe that journalists are to enhance the public conversation to support democracy.
Robert presents an alternative view. Christian journalists, who unrelentingly strive for verifiable truth, are to discover and report that truth in order to inform the public. When journalists do factual reporting, the public can make decisions based on that information. Robert argues that the very idea of truth is a revolutionary and misunderstood view within the newsroom, especially post-McLuhan, who he dislikes. In this vision of journalism, stories like obituaries and local event reporting are good practice for more substantial forms of writing.
Christian, Truth-telling journalism, Robert tells us, includes obligations to three parties.
Robert quotes Zechariah 8:16, which urges followers of God to "speak the truth to each other and do not swear falsely in the courts." In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he encourages people to "put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour." Why is this important? Why not soften reality? Robert tells us that a sovereign God doesn't need our improvements to be able to bless our neighbour; truth always leads to blessing.
Some journalists report for a Christian audience. These journalists should be watchmen (Isaiah 21:6), warning the church to stay faithful to the truth.
When writing for a broader audience, Robert says that we should never be afraid to write the truth, because God will use the truth to work his good and perfect will for our neighbours. Shifting into arguments common among Schaeffer's followers, Robert argues that if falsehood is permitted to stand by a failure to report truthfully, then human society will break down and the blessings of human culture will be lost. Good Christian journalists, Robert tells us, are to "redeem culture" and stand against "the father of lies, the evil one."
Christian journalism is an antidote to secular journalism, Robert argues. A "Christian worldview" takes captive every thought and makes it obedient to Christ." A Christian worldview is "seeing life from God's point of view as found in his word."
Journalists cannot write from this standpoint if they don't think as Christians, Robert says. If it is true that journalists write the first draft of history, Christian journalists need to be "epistemologically self-conscious." Since journalists always approach a story with a frame, they need to develop a Christian worldview, one based on the belief that God reveals truth to the world.
To unpack what Robert means by this, it's helpful to look at the Facebook page description of WORLD Magazine, which is a sister organisation to Christians in Journalism:
WORLD offers hard-hitting, truth-telling, uniquely Christian worldview reporting that stands in stark contrast to the mainstream media in these confusing, chaotic days
Robert extends his theology of journalism to include the media formats that journalists use. He laments that copy writers are becoming extinct in journalism, since Christian journalists should prefer words over any other format. Photojournalism and videojournalism help tell a story as long as they accompany words for analysis and reflection. Internet tech is fine as a tactic to get Christians into journalism positions, but Christians should stay primarily committed to words. Robert claims that culture is regressing to the middle ages, when people used symbols to communicate (ps. emblems were beautiful and awesome).
Robert argues that sound and imagery secure an emotive rather than a cognitive response. If the public loses faith in words, then Christianity will suffer. Without words, the public are slaves to the news, and the war against darkness will be lost (I swear I'm not making this up).
Christian journalism students sometimes want to choose only stories that are happy and inspiring, Robert says. "Christian journalists are the last true realists in the newsroom," he tells us. Christians believe in the reality of evil, the job of the Christian journalist is to throw light onto darkness. Robert quotes St Paul's warning to have nothing to do with evil, and encourages Christian journalists expose evil with factual reporting.
Christians sometimes come to journalism to change the world. That leads them towards opinion writing and advocacy journalism. Robert argues that editorialising is not at the core of Christian journalism. Journalists are scribes rather than prophets. When Christian journalists report the truth of a situation, they should leave others to respond. Robert talks to us about "sphere sovereignty," the idea that each sphere of work has its own place, and that those boundaries should not be crossed. This is as self-evident, Robert claims, as the view that family and business should be recognised as separate spheres.
Christian journalists shouldn't be "proselytizers with a missionary mouth." Good Christian journalists are good journalists first. If they draw a clear line between their faith and their work as journalists, Robert says, others do the work of responding. What then makes Christians different? They should apply their missionary zeal for verifiable truth.
Robert concludes by telling us that Christian journalists are to find and share the truth in an engaging and compelling manner. Like any professional, they should be "excellent in craft and pious in life." Not enough Christian journalists, he laments, are great journalists and great Christians alike. He encourages the audience to work hard and maybe that can change.
I ask him if his thinking isn't outdated, a fine-tuned argument for an era of industrial journalism, an accident of 20th century business and religious history. If we accept that new conditions need new ethics, shouldn't we go further than grudgingly acquiesce? Who's doing exciting new thinking about Christianity and journalism in the 21st century? I ask.
Robert admits to being at a loss. Several times throughout his talk, he reminds himself to change a sentence or two to update it for current conditions in the news industry. He does respond that we're going to find the ethics of post-industrial journalism by turning to the Bible. That future won't be Christian media. Robert is worried that Christians have created an alternative universe of Christian publications. He points to his sister company, World Magazine, as an example. It's written for Christians by Christians. Many Christians try to work for them rather than working for the AP or the New York Times. Instead of more Christian-only media, Robert wants to see more Christians in mainstream news organisations.
Robert ends by warning the audience that Christian journalists live in no-man's land. The Christian world suspects them because they think that journalists are on the dark side. Journalists suspect them because they think Christians are little Billy Grahams.
Q&A ends with the same tone that ran throughout his talk: Journalism is isolated, thankless work in a failing industry that is incredibly important because Christians have a commitment to truth, and because it's one of our last defenses against the demise of Western culture. He directs us to Christian journalist support groups in major cities and name-drops some very prominent journalists as participants.
For those of you who don't know my work, I'm a gradstudent at the MIT Center for Civic Media, which is funded by the Knight Foundation, to imagine and build technologies for informed and engaged communities. I make technologies that live at the intersection of citizen media, mainstream media, and civic life. My recent projects look at how journalists use social media sources, technologies for gender equality in the news, citizen video journalism, and ideation and funding models for journalism innovation.
Although I disagree with much of what Robert Case said, I have to give him credit for having the guts to speak about the value of impartial, factual reporting at a Christian Missions Conference. A gathering of people who care about converting the world to Christianity isn't an easy crowd for someone who's worried about the prominence of Christian-only media.
That's one of the two things that Robert and I agree about. We both agree that Christians should do more to encounter a wider variety of voices, and that Christians should use their voices within that larger conversation. This might seem an odd thing to argue, but it makes sense when we remember that in some circles, the Christian life requires withdrawal from the broader "secular" world.
I also agree that responsible Christians should draw part of our ethics from our faith. But here Robert and I diverge. I disagree that Christians should try to "redeem culture." I think the diversity in our world makes us stronger, a diversity that includes Christians alongside everyone else. I also think that a focus on verification is necessary but insufficient in our imagination of the role for news in society.
Robert's talk also illustrates the dangers of trying to base all of one's beliefs on a religious foundation. Christianity and the Bible are rich sources of wisdom. As a practicing Christian, I take them as authoritative in my life. But when you try to construct pyramids of knowledge that exclusively rest on your religious text, you end up with weird ideas that don't match reality-- like Robert's fear of photographs, video, and "Internet tech." While advocacy journalists sometimes hold naive beliefs in the power of images to display truth, it's just weird to argue that Western Civilisation is weakened every time you share a cute cat photo.
I have incredibly complicated feelings about this session, and not many of them are positive. Most of all, I feel bad for the students who attended. Today's undergrads are the future of this profession, and they don't need to be beaten down by journalism industry depression or twisted into knots by complicated religious ideologies. We all need to be inspired and supported by a positive, can-do, democratic vision of the role of journalism in society. For the public good to thrive, we need to fight pessimism and despair with cooperation and imagination, drawing strength from our differences.