As if we needed further proof of media bias...

Zombietime.com has published this excellent essay on the many fraudulent photos of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict which have recently been published by Reuters and other mainstream media outlets.  (Warning:  The essay contains at least two potentially disturbing photos showing dead bodies.)  Apparently, the number and types of fraudulent photos go far beyond the one digitally-manipulated smoke photo that has received the most publicity.  If you have any doubt whatsoever about the existence of bias in mainstream media outlets such as Reuters, I highly recommend that you read this essay.

Also, zombietime.com is the same website that several months ago ran this excellent pictorial account of the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco, which illustrates the stark difference in attitudes and tactics between the pro-life and pro-abortion demonstrators.  (Warning:  A few of the pictures contain mildly disturbing images and/or explicit language.)

The Media on Religion

Terry Mattingly wrote an interesting column recently about the way that mainstream media reporters, even religion reporters, often simply don't understand religion, which leads them to report inaccurately on religious topics. Here's an excerpt:

Picture this scene. A flock of Pentecostal Christians has gathered at the U.S. Capitol for yet another prayer rally about sex, abortion, family values and the public square.

"At times, the mood turned hostile toward the lawmakers in the stately white building behind the stage," wrote The Washington Post in its coverage of the event. Then, without explanation, the story offered this on-stage quotation from a religious broadcaster: "Let's pray that God will slay everyone in the Capitol."

Slay what? Clearly, the reporters didn't know about the experience that Pentecostal Christians call being "slain in the Holy Spirit," in which they believe they are transformed by a surge of God's power. The result was a journalistic train wreck that ended up in the book The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect.

"The problem," wrote authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, "was that the reporters didn't know, didn't have any Pentecostals in the newsroom to ask, and was perhaps too anxious for a 'holy s---' story to double-check with someone afterward whether the broadcaster was really advocating the murder of the entire Congress." This mistake made "a strong case for the need for humility" at the news desk, they said.

Let me say "amen" to that, speaking as a journalism professor and as a religion-beat veteran who has winced in recent decades when reading these kinds of corrections (including a few of my own).

Truth is, far too many journalists veer into mental ditches when asked to cover events and trends rooted in religion. That's bad news when it comes time for serious, accurate coverage of a variety of stories that ordinary readers care about — from trends in Hollywood to debates about free speech in schools, from "sectarian" bloodbaths in Iraq to hard data linking what happens in pews to what happens in ballot boxes.

Click here for the full article: The Media, God, and Gaffes

I think that the problem identified in this article is actually symptomatic of a larger problem with the mainstream media, which is that they often don't seem to be all that knowledgeable about any advanced topic, whether it is religion, science, law, or whatever. I notice this myself, any time that the media reports on a topic that I happen to know a lot about. I find that it is not uncommon at all for the media simply to get facts wrong, and to perpetuate a distorted view of certain topics. And I don't think that this always or even usually means that they are biased, but rather that when it comes to many advanced topics, they sometimes just don't adequately understand what they are talking about. But maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist -- I'd be interested to know if people besides me have noticed this same phenomenon.

Media coverage of "The Passion" and "The Da Vinci Code"

Roughly two years ago, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ presented an orthodox, traditional Christian view of Jesus.  This year, Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code presents a radically different view of Jesus and of Christianity. Both movies were the subject of much hype and controversy prior to their releases, and both movies made big bucks at the box office.  Given these facts, it would be reasonable to expect that media outlets with no bias either for or against Christianity would give roughly equivalent coverage to both movies, right?  So was this true of the major U.S. TV networks?  Did they give roughly equivalent coverage to both The Passion and The Da Vinci Code?  Not even close, say the folks at the Media Research Center, and they have the research to back it up....

"The Trashing of the Christ": Executive Summary
"The Trashing of the Christ": Full Report

So does this report indicate that there is some level of anti-Christian bias in the news divisions at ABC, NBC, and CBS?  I'll report, and let you decide. ;-)

The Plight of Iraq's Christians

I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other about whether we did the right thing by going to war in Iraq in order to depose Saddam Hussein. I tend to think that it was the right choice, given what we knew at the time -- or at least I can sympathize with the reasoning behind the decision. However, the decision to go to war is not one that can or should be taken lightly, and ultimately I don't think that I have enough information to have made that call. But this story about the grave difficulties facing Christians in Iraq gives me great cause for concern over how things are going in Iraq currently.

It doesn't surprise me that Christians are being persecuted in a predominantly Muslim country -- such persecutions unfortunately seem to be quite common in predominantly Muslim countries. However, it seems that the U.S. could and should be doing more about this problem, considering the role we are taking in rebuilding Iraq as a supposedly democratic and free nation. I certainly hope that we are in fact doing more than the article implies.

Also, it seems a bit strange to me that both the mainstream (i.e., liberal-leaning) media and the conservative media have been largely silent on this issue -- perhaps because the former tends to be less than sympathetic toward Christians, and because the latter may be hesitant to report anything that makes our war (or post-war) effort look bad. (But this is just my own speculation.)