The Seven Mountains – Media
By: Karla Perry
Journalism is the voice of a nation. It can be a clarion call of truth, or it can be a cacophony of lies. More often it is a mixture of truth and lies all competing for dominance. In a post-truth nation, how does truth win when we are rapidly losing sight of what truth is?
We argue about bias. The problem is not bias, but worldview. No one can report bare facts. The goal is not to inform the public of the most basic of facts devoid of any critique or opinion. Journalists are speaking to the nation about the nation. The media is to be the guardians of liberty. They are a check and balance upon the powers of government. Journalists are employed to inform the people of whatever must be communicated to an educated citizenry who desires to know.
Journalists are not to be promoting a party, but a nation. Truth is their duty. Honesty, their badge of honor. If you have not seen the movie The Post, I recommend it as a great film about the commitment to truth in journalism. It must all be laid on the line in a newspaper’s commitment to printing the truth. It is not about entertainment, but responsibility. It is not about what sells, but what must be made public.
We live in a day where “fake news” is the buzz word of our times. However, if we eschew journalism altogether, we will create another blunder. A nation needs its media. It requires its reporters, newspapers, journalists, news correspondents, etc. When we disregard its value, we participate in its demise.
Instead of giving up on the Mountain of Media, we are to go into the darkness carrying the light of the Kingdom. Christians are called into mainstream media. We cannot remain isolated in Christian news. The nation needs salt and light. It is not just the believers who need the media, it is the nation and the world.
Darkness is wherever believers are not being salt and light. We cannot blame the darkness for their lack of light. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the world. To be the salt and light we must go into the world. Go therefore, Jesus said. Be in the world and not of it. We cannot do that from subculture Christianity. We do not need more Christian news agencies; we need more truth agents in mainstream media.
We may be surprised to find there are Christians already in media who are waiting for more to come and join them in promoting truth centered journalism. We are not attempting to take over the media. We want to serve the media. We want to bring truth to the Media Mountain, not control. Discipleship creates the supernatural reign of truth, not the natural reign of people controlling other people. If we are serving truth well, people will want what we are offering.
The goal is not to demean media and remove its influence but shift its influence to a projector of truth that dispels the lies of the enemy over our land.