Faith & Journalism

Last April, an atheist professor named Richard Dawkins tweeted the following: 

Mehdi Hasan is a British journalist and author who is currently working as the political editor of the UK version of The Huffington Post. He is also a Shia Muslim. 

While Dawkins' tweet has generated plenty of criticism, it also raises the question: Can a religious believer also be a "serious journalist?"

Many would argue that religion and journalism do not mix because they are fundamentally different. Religion relies upon faith while journalism demands hard evidence. I, on the other hand, firmly believe that a journalist can be religious. At their cores, journalism and religion are very similar. They both involve searching for the truth. 

In our country's Bill of Rights, under the very same amendment protecting the freedom of the press, it reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 

So, the answer is a resounding yes --A religious believer can be a serious journalist. As long as no harm is being done, people should not be discriminated against for what they believe. 

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Relations between the media and my church have often been a little tense. However, "Mormons" have found themselves under the spotlight recently after the 2002 Olympics, the presidential campaigns for Mitt Romney and even the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. With increased publicity, there has been an increased understanding and I'm hopeful for the future. 

Also, this post has been a little lacking in the cheer department, so here's a link to one of my all-time favorite Stephen Colbert videos. It's on the subject of Mormons in the media and it's fabulous. 

Media & The Civil Rights Movement

This week, our class discussed Civil Rights and the important role that media has played in it, for better or for worse. We discussed events such as the March on Washington, the Brown v. Board of Education case, the Emmett Till murder and the Montgomery bus boycott.

The press certainly had its less-than-stellar moments during the Civil Rights movement. For example, when covering the March on Washington in 1963, the papers all failed to even mention Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. However, the media was important to spreading the word for Civil Rights. Television, in particular, gave people around the nation a visual of the situation in the southern states. This helped bring people to action. And it helped make our country better.

Yet, racism certainly still exists here and the problem was brought back to the front page after Trayvon Martin's death. Now, I'm not going to go into the moral issues concerning this case. I only want to focus on the way the media covered it. In my opinion, the media made a bad situation even worse with the way they handled Trayvon Martin's shooting at the hands of George Zimmerman.

Skepticism is an important characteristic for journalists to have and there was a distinct lack of it with Zimmerman and Martin. I understand that everybody wants a straightforward story, with clear-cut heroes and villains. But sometimes, stories are more complicated and when they are, the media should acknowledge it.

Both Martin and Zimmerman were treated unfairly because reporters let emotions eclipse the truth. Even when delicate issues like race come into play, journalists need to provide honest facts, not just the juiciest story.

For more info:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/14/zimmerman-trayvon-martin-nbc-news-column-rieder/2516251/ 

The Future of News

This week in class, we discussed the future of media. To be honest, this is a pretty scary subject for me because everything is up in the air right now. All we can really do is guess. The New York Times recently cited a Cisco Systems study that predicts the media industry's revenue could do anything from shrink slightly to completely double by 2017.

Thanks for narrowing that down Cisco.

Sometimes things are changing so quickly that I feel a little bit like Marty McFly in Back to the Future: Part II...except I don't have a hover board.

Image retrieved from http://www.doblu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/bt2tf1158.jpg

Also, Jaws 19 has not been released yet.

What we do know is that the old news world is gone. The digital revolution is not slowing down any time soon. Up until now, I think many organizations have been desperately trailing behind it. But to survive in the future, news organizations need to do more than chase the advancing technological changes in society. They need to start keeping pace with them. 

The best way to do this is to simply be adaptable. News organizations need to be more than willing to change. They need to completely embrace change. Yes, the future of media is riddled with problems. But the new age also offers many opportunities. Any media organization, not just the big ones, can aspire to a global audience now. The digital era is an empowering one. It's time to stop complaining and take advantage of it.