TRUST IN THE MEDIA?

Stepping onto a soapbox for a moment …

I have been some what of a faithful reader of Newsweek over the past two years and for the most part I find their articles fairly insight, interesting and thought provoking. However, in their recent issue the cover story was about how the Bible supports gay marriage.

Granted the editors knew this topic would bring up controversy – and it certainly has – but this article is written fairly terribly. I have read it four times and still have a hard time completely understanding the authors justifications for biblical support of gay marriage. Clearly she supports gay marriage (which is fine and it’s her prerogative) but her personal opinion on the subject seems to be more evident than trying to cite how the Bible supports gay marriage. I found myself trying to really, really hard to understand her arguments but it was like chasing the wind. The author wasn’t going to convince my with fairly shallow points.

Being something of a Biblical literate, after reading this article my “trust” in this publication seems to be damaged a little bit. I enjoy reading their articles on politics, war, the environment, etc., etc. to further educate myself on a wide range of topics. Usually these topics I am not as up to speed as I would be on the, say, the Bible and gay marriage.

I understand that there is media bias out there. I was a journalism undergraduate after all. But after this specific example of “journalism” my belief in the mainstream media continues to dwindle. It’s frustrating because I want to trust these so called experts but who is worthy to be trusted anymore? Having my worldview broaden on a regular basis is actually something of a pleasure. But at what (or who’s) expense is my worldview being broaden? Is it a completely informed new view?

It's kind of like the X-Files, I want to believe but I just don't know what to believe anymore.

Off the soapbox.