Doug Baker on the Ethics of Christian Journalism
Doug Baker writes:
In the Southern Baptist Convention, many believe that fair and balanced reporting has all but disappeared. The Convention’s news wire remains under the auspices of the SBC Executive Committee. Some state papers have been brought under the direct control of the state conventions they serve prompting the criticism that the papers are now nothing more than the public relations arm of their respective state conventions. Some openly state that the accountability that legitimate journalism brings is now impossible to achieve because no Convention agency or entity wants to publish information that could tarnish their public image.
How to maintain legitimate and respectable news organs throughout the SBC seems to be the question of the hour. Competing visions for the future of the Convention can all too easily occupy an editor’s chair, creating the impression that even the desire to report the news of someone or something without commentary can no longer be done. It now seems that a malicious tone has entered the realm of religious journalism to such a degree that a person can be profiled in a manner that highlights certain sins or character faults absent context and direct reporting required by secular journalistic outlets.
Read the whole thing. There is a real need to recover credibility in media outlets that represent Southern Baptists, and Doug’s words hopefully provide an impetus for that recovery to begin.
Tags: Christian Journalism, Doug Baker, Journalistic Ethics, SBC
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September 8, 2009 at 6:32 am
I remember after Dr. Russel Dilday was fired from SWBTS that SBC Today magazine came out with a long article proving he was a heretic. The article used an elaborate convoluted logic to show that since Dilday was president of the Seminary when one of its professors had written something indicating he was a Universalist that Dilday was obviously a liberal. The article failed to mention that Dilday had fired the Prof for that. The journalist knowingly slandered Dilday to cover the denominational line. It was evil. I was furious but there was no one to write to, no impartial judge, no one with any integrity.
I love SB’s, SB churches, and SB missions. SB journalism? There is no such thing.
September 8, 2009 at 10:36 am
Everyone knows that (all too often) the official Southern Baptist media outlets are not “fair and balanced” in their reporting of the Baptist news. All too often Baptist Press and the State papers are used by those in power to “spin” the news to their benefit.
This is why the readership of these papers have plummeted like a stone… and why an entire generation of younger Baptist have turned to the Blogs to get their news on events and issues that concern them. Are the Blogs always trustworthy… hardly… but at least in the Blog world one can usually hear both sides of the story.
Grace Always,
September 8, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I appreciated Baker’s article. Well said and courageous.
My only critique, and it is minor, is objectivity is not possible. Christian journalists will start with the presupposition that God exists, He created the world, He expects us to obey Him, etc. This colors how we write: depravity doesn’t surprise us, etc.
We all carry biases into our reporting. I didn’t grow up in the SBC and thus there is no nostalgia for me to work through in seeking to report SBC events in a fair and balanced way. For others, such as my former colleague David Roach, who are SBC-born and bred and likes the culture of the typical SBC church, the way he reports is colored by his experience.
Neither of us is objective, but we should both work to be fair and balanced. To report news and not make news, by the way we report and the timing of our reporting.
So, I agree with the thrust of Baker’s article, commend it and echo it.
September 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I like Doug’s writing, especially because I can take my time in reading it. Not so when you have to listen to him talk.
Seriously, he realizes that he has biases and doesn’t pretend they are absent. I hope that he can become a leading voice for responsibility in the SB newspaper world.