Christian Journalism & Ethics
The motive of a Christian journalist
is to glorify God. The way that this is accomplished is by
using God's expectations
as the directive for your work as a journalist. As with many
other applications of the Christian faith to life issues, this
directive is actually one that is liberating. It means that
a Christian journalist does not have to engage in what is called--at
least in the United States--"pack journalism," in
which every journalist covering a story has to worry about
all the other reports that will be filed on that story. S/he
does not have to be concerned that another journalist will
get a quotation, or discover a fact, that s/he missed, because
s/he is actually interested in those aspects of a story that
most others will pass by. Their concern will be with the politics
of a situation, or its economic repercussions (usually thought
of in macro terms, as in whether the stock market will rise
or fall, or the balance of payments will be affected), or whether
a particular person's fortunes will rise or fall as a conseqence
of unfolding events. A Christian journalist, however, is concerned
about how a story reveals or conceals some aspect of God's
purpose, or the condition of his creatures, or whether justice
is served, the dispossessed lifted up, the basic reality of
humankind as imago dei recognized. The Christian journalist
does not have to be concerned about getting a "scoop," that
is, being the first one to report a story, because nearly every
story s/he files will be a first, reporting events from a fresh
perspective, filling in the gaps so to speak, that all the
other journalists working a story are likely to leave as they
all approach the story from the same perspective.
Even when reporting about scandal or crime, the Christian journalist
remembers that guilty parties are also human, and that all
of humankind is guilty--not necessarily of the embezzlement
or the death that a particular person may have committed--but
nonetheless guilty of sin. Every person is tainted with it;
it is a load that we all bear. So the Christian journalist
looks for evidence that the accused has recognized his sin,
whether s/he shows remorse, or whether, through the legal proceedings
or the legislative process, or through even the living of everyday
life, a person who has committed a crime or is leading the
country down a particular path, is learning or beginning to
recognize the consequences of his action. Those that do are
one sort of story; those that do not are another. And those
who are victims of others' actions are also a story, even if
they are not famous, wealthy, or notable. They are as important
as any other and they have stories to tell, too. The Christian
journalist treats them with the same respect as s/he does the
country's President or Prime Minister, movie or rock starts.
For God recognizes no differences in status or authority on
this earth. All are equal in his eyes.
I do not mean to suggest that the standards of journalism
are necessarily different for the Christian compared
to other journalists.
All must seek accuracy, corroboration, objectivity, and so
forth, in their reports. But there are always aspects of
stories to be illumined that the searchlights of standard
journalistic
practice miss. And so the Christian journalist's question
is, how would God expect this story to be reported?
What elements
are missing from the standard stories of this event? Who
has been missed? What consequence has not been uncovered?
Is the
accused guilty and has s/he yet recognized it? Is there anything
redemptive in this set of facts--any clue about God's purposes,
or his people's reactions? What would God expect to emerge
from this situation?
None of these questions have to do with journalistic ambition,
pride, or stature. They are animated by considering events
from what we think God's point of view on the matter would
be. How he sees things. How it might further his kingdom.
How his glory might be revealed. So that is the fundamental
motive
that should animate any Christian journalist.
Ethics in Music Production
A good place to begin in understanding
how ethics relates to the production of music, or to any
radio program for that matter, is with the Greek philosopher,
Plato. Although Plato lived and wrote in an age of Greek
paganism, his concern with civic virtue led him to conclusions
about aesthetics that are fundamental to understanding Christian
ethics in the realm of media production.
Plato argued that anything that was
aesthetically pleasing had to have three elements in harmony.
These were beauty, goodness and truth. We could not say that
a piece of art, for instance, had aesthetic value unless
it had all three of these elements in balance. The most beautiful
piece of art or music, then, that lacked a commitment to
truth or goodness, would not, in Plato's thinking, have aesthetic
worth. In this sense, ethics and aesthetics were not opposites
-- as Neitzsche argued -- but complementary, even essential,
to one another. But how do we apply this perspective to radio
or recorded music?
Some people do argue that aesthetics
doesn't even apply to recording or broadcasting technologies
because these are merely reproduction systems. Aesthetics
can only apply to the original performance, not to the reproduction
of that performance. This is a rather difficult position
for me to swallow. I don't see much difference, for instance,
between what a painter does and what a printmaker does, in
so far as aesthetics is concerned. It seems to me, however,
that if we accept that aesthetics does not apply to the recording
of a symphony orchestra or the CD that is released from that
performance, then we have no basis to object to the quality
of the CD. What could be wrong with it? But if we do make
judgments about one CD's quality over against another, then
we are using aesthetic criteria. We do the same thing when
we judge a print. Is it a quality print or a poorly rendered
one? So I object when Walter Benjamin refers to the use of
technologies as being just means to mechanically reproduce
art and not worthy themselves of the application of criteria
for excellence, beauty, execution of technique, or knowledge
of the different ways that the capturing and reproduction
were accomplished such that the best means could be selected.
And I object to Anthony Storr's conclusion that
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