Have Christians Abandoned Media to the Enemy?

By Mark A. Kellner
Special to ASSIST Ministries

FULTON, MD (ANS) -- I was pondering the most-recent round of Christian bashing the so-called "mainstream media" has undertaken. In the wake of the tragic and senseless violence in Norway, some organizations, most notably The New York Times, have dubbed the alleged assailant a "Christian extremist."

Keith Green

The reaction from Christians was swift and unambiguous: however he may style himself, the man who is claiming responsibility for these heinous crimes is not a Christian. (As the late Keith Green used to remind his audiences: "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger."


Green's point: being a Christian requires a commitment on the part of an individual to actively follow Christ's teachings, which most assuredly don't involve the use of assault rifles to mow down innocent young people.)

But how did this happen? Ten years ago, twenty years ago - and, most assuredly, 40 years ago - you would not have had seemingly responsible media outlets leap to conclusions, particularly on the basis of a claim from a single, unidentified, Oslo police force member. 

Besides lacking a name and rank for the (presumed) officer, we also lack any context: Why did this person say the alleged perpetrator was a "Christian extremist," if those were the exact words used? What was this member of law enforcement trying to say?

One of the reasons this was so quickly taken up in some corners, I believe, is because it fit a perception of the millions of people who claim a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and a belief in the Bible as the Word of God. If you take such things seriously, you must be "one donut short of a dozen," or a rube, a hick, an uneducated tool of Elmer Gantry's latter-day offspring.

This man expresses his point of view

Indeed, on February 1, 1993, Michael Weisskopf, then a reporter for The Washington Post, wrote in a news article the assertion that followers of the Christian Right are "poor, uneducated, and easy to command." Within 24 hours, the Post issued a correction because, as the paper conceded, there was "no factual basis" for that statement.

From where did such an assumption arise? I can't say for sure, but I'll wager (rhetorically, of course) that a good chunk of it stems from a lack of evangelical Christians in newsrooms, and certainly in news management positions, let alone the circles in which secular newspeople travel.

That makes some sense, of course: ASSIST News Service founder and chief editor, Dan Wooding has written about his father's urgings to avoid journalism; doubtless some other Christians received similar warnings. If, as studies have shown, many in news leadership positions are either nominally observant or largely secular, the won't be found at any large church at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Evangelicals, in turn, may not hang out where the secular folks are at that hour, either.

This avoidance has diminished somewhat. There are many, many dedicated Christians working in newsrooms across the country, and I pray their ranks increase. These professionals don't see the newsroom as a place to proselytize; they work hard, report fairly and accurately, and let their light so shine, as Jesus said.

But I don't know if there's a replacement at The New York Times for the great evangelical, and reporter, John McCandlish Phillips. If evangelicals can't crack the upper reaches of such a paper, their perception by the Times' editors will likely be distorted, or secondhand at best.

What to do? Encourage our young people to get active in journalism, to climb the ladder and become part of news management. We can pray that journalists, even editors of the great newspapers or producers at the broadcast and cable networks, are somehow converted, and see their world through eyes made new.

In the "X Files" movie, perennial movie villain Armin Mueller-Stahl addresses his secret organization colleagues about a genetically engineered food experiment gone bad, intoning, "We are but beggars to our own demise." Off the screen, if evangelicals forsake participation in the world of mass media, we'll soon be able to say the same thing.

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Mark A. Kellner is a veteran journalist based in Fulton, Maryland who contributes to The Washington Times. The views he expresses here are his own. He can be contacted by e-mail at mkellner@gmail.com and his website is: www.kellner.us