Faith and Reason in Journalism

If you’re looking to get into journalism for anything you can get out of it, you should question yourself. In the time I’ve spent studying journalism, I’ve found that why you do something is as important as what you do, and that only when you submit yourself to some intellectually honest scrutiny can you hope to find any purpose in your line of work.

Many secular journalists have the wrong motivation for entering their chosen field. When you, as a student, let someone know that you are studying journalism, many react with, “Oh, so I’ll see you on TV!” People think of the celebrity personalities of CNN and Fox News when they think of journalists — they envision reporters standing in front of the camera in expensive suits, interviewing famous celebrities or political figures.

But that’s not reality for the majority of journalists.

Anyone seeking to enter the industry for the fame and recognition journalists occasionally receive will likely be disenchanted. The typical online reader will spend an average of only a few seconds skimming any story. The reporter, who may have spent hours reporting and writing, rarely has the satisfaction of knowing that even one person thoughtfully read his entire piece and seldom receives credit or congratulations for his work.

To get into journalism, you need to have a clear idea of why what you are doing is important, otherwise you will become discouraged. Journalists are notoriously overworked and underpaid. Because of this, the most successful writers are the ones who are passionate about their work. Your enthusiasm, however, should not be directed at gaining fame and celebrity. Such journalists will be disappointed.

The lack of clear vision and purpose often leads to cynicism in the newsroom, which is dangerous in a country where truth is relative. Journalists become lazy — sometimes they are some of the laziest people in the world — letting sloppy writing or slanted reporting go unnoticed because, hey, the truth doesn’t matter anyway. It is very easy for a journalist to get by doing the bare minimum when he doesn’t feel like he is striving to fulfill a higher calling. After all, there’s no immediate reward for doing an outstanding job. All that matters is getting the story in on deadline. The pressures of the job and low incentive for going above and beyond can quickly turn the most idealistic young reporter into a lazy and skeptical hack.

So what is the higher calling? Maybe it’s that journalism is invaluable for the continued existence of a free society. It is true: those in power need someone to hold them accountable. Historically, journalists have often been the only ones standing between the planet’s evil and power hungry villains and their evil goals. Journalists are seekers of justice and defenders of America’s voiceless weak.

It can make you proud to be a journalist — to know that you are one of the few, underappreciated champions of liberty that saves the day in the end, using only the power of the pen and his mind as weapons. Where would we be without the Woodwards and Bernsteins of journalism? Journalists provide the information that people need to make informed decisions about how they will be governed. Ideally, they do this in a fair and objective way so that readers always get both sides of the story, driving them back to your publication time and again for their news. And, if you’re lucky, you turn out an Eliot Spitzer every once in a while.

Still. All this expanding of our “mental maps” — and for what? Sure, we would like to see conservatism in America preserved with the help of good journalism by hardworking reporters, but far too many Christians fall into the trap of believing that any one of our planets problems can be solved politically. We can see some of the side-effects of this mentality in the Bush presidency: a lot of Christians thought, “We have our guy in office,” and they grew complacent, joining in with our materialistic culture on a binge of consumerism while the important battles of the culture war were lost.

The higher calling can’t really be saving our conservative heritage. Inside, we can all affirm that journalism is indeed necessary for a well-informed public in a democracy, but if you look at the actual results of what Christian journalists have achieved in America you will be disillusioned. The higher calling can’t be political.

Saying that Christians make the mistake of fighting all their battles politically is the same as saying they rely too much on reason and not enough on faith. If a Christian journalist wants to make a difference, then his ultimate purpose is spiritual in nature, not political. Jesus set the example. When he came to earth, he spent his time with the poor, caring for the sick. Jesus wasn’t concerned with the social injustices and violations of God-given human liberty carried out by the Roman government of his day. He was concerned with the accumulation of dust on the feet of his disciples. If there was ever one man who had the power to right all the wrongs of society, be perfectly objective, to have perfect information, to completely fill in the blanks in everyone’s mental maps, it was Jesus — but he got down on his hands and knees and washed his disciples' feet.

That’s not to say that the political battles aren’t worth fighting. Some people are called to politics, some to journalism. Jesus was a carpenter. We don’t have exactly the same vocation on earth that Jesus did. But we should imitate him in the way he went about achieving his goals. Jesus stooped down and made himself nothing so that we could become something. That is the example we want to follow.

A Christian journalist should be a humble public servant. That’s where you find satisfaction, and, in the paradoxical fashion that seems to characterize our universe, it’s also where you gain all the extras that the rest of the world is chasing after.

The difference between a secular journalist and a Christian one is an inner choice. A Christian journalist goes about his job in basically the same way that anyone else would, but his motivating passion comes from another source — the desire to be a servant. For this reason, humility is key. Unlike most other professions, everything a journalist does is subject to public scrutiny, which is usually ruthless. Journalists are attacked publicly, and even in the context of the newsroom they receive regular correction from their coworkers. Going into the job with humility makes all the difference.

That’s one way that Christians can be better journalists than their secular counterparts. Christians recognize that their purpose is one of service to the reader. Journalists aren’t the “media elite.”

An attitude of service gives new meaning to tired words like “objectivity” and “fairness.” For secular journalists, these things don’t have much meaning beyond their utility in selling newspapers. In the end, however, it doesn’t matter how fair your story was as long as it kept the viewers interested, hence the rise of Bill O’Reily. In post-modern America, the loss of objective truth makes meaningful Lincoln-Douglas-style debate pointless. Our nationally televised presidential debates are watered down to two-minute sound bites. A candidate can get away with saying as little as he wants, provided he doesn’t sweat too much on TV.

The application of a biblical worldview to journalism, however, counteracts the negative effects of the TV age on the industry. Objectivity and fairness are ideals worth striving for because Christians believe that there is always a right answer somewhere, even if neither side has it at the moment. For a Christian, objectivity is about more than which side of the debate received more air time — it is the opposite of “subjectivity,” implying that real truth is at stake.

Christian journalists can even have a fuller understanding of the issues due to the eternal perspective they gain from the Word of God. Christians understand the reality of man’s sinful nature. That doesn’t make Christians experts, but it does help to put what the experts are saying into context. Societal problems like divorce, abortion, and homosexuality can’t be explained or solved by secular journalists — they are just statistics, and it is becoming increasingly rare for these issues even to be seen as “problems.” The Christian journalist, in this example, has a higher understanding of the nature of the family and its place in society, making it possible to distinguish disorder from order.

Bringing a biblical worldview to journalism, however, should feel different than using a sledge hammer. Christian journalists let the facts speak for themselves. Part of the reason why so many Christian commentators can’t find a message that resonates with their secular audience is that they spend too much time putting their own spin on the story, ignoring the powerful influence that simple truth-telling can have.

If we believe, as Christians, that we can know truth and it does actually “set you free,” then our journalism should only require that we convey it as accurately as we can. In the end, people don’t want to hear a writer’s opinion. Skillful writing lays all the pieces of the puzzle on the table for readers to assemble themselves. If you, as a reporter, have made the effort to collect all the pieces and present them to your audience, they will have no trouble arriving at the complete picture. Christians can be better journalists than secular reporters because the Word of God reveals eternal truth that places all journalistic concepts, including objectivity, fairness, and the anecdotes of our society, into a broader context.

But the day-to-day work of a Christian journalist is not that much different from that of a secular journalist. The methodology each reporter uses is the same. Secular reporters still cling to the ideal of objectivity and acknowledge their own failure to reach it in every piece. Even in a post-modern society, journalists still do believe in the truth and that it is worth finding. The fact that we did have the Watergate story is evidence of that. Some secular journalists are so committed to finding the truth that they will risk their lives for it. The difference, therefore, can’t be found in the journalist’s passion for finding and telling the truth. The difference between a Christian journalist and a secular one is in the heart of the individual.

We have read a lot about the ultimate purpose of Christians in journalism — that our role in life is to tell the truth. This is true, but it is only part of the complete picture. God is truth and journalists, as truth-tellers, are constantly seeking after the fullest representation of a reality that is defined by him. Thus, to the extent that we are successful in finding truth, we find God. This is what allows many secular journalists to be so successful and valuable in their work, and it is also why saying that the ultimate purpose of a Christian journalist is to be a truth-teller is only half the story.

The fact is that journalists in the secular community can report just as well as Christians. As Christians, we have the ultimate source of truth in the Word of God, but that doesn’t always make us better journalists. There are many reasons why a biblical worldview can contribute to a Christian journalist’s work, giving him perhaps greater potential than his secular counterpart, but it would be arrogant to presume that this is always the case. Christians are fallible just like everyone else, and a biblical worldview does not guarantee better journalism.

Christian journalists understand the world’s disorder in a context that few others have: we understand the sinfulness of man and the need for redemption through Christ. But how often do Christian journalists make use of this knowledge in the newsroom? During the Puritan era, a writer could attribute the cause of a murder to the perpetrator’s sinfulness and chalk it up to moral weakness, calling upon the community to publicly repent. In today’s news industry, however, there is no place to describe murders and suicides in the same terms used by our predecessors.

This same calling to pursue and expound biblical truth still exists for today’s journalists, but how can a similar interplay of faith and reason exist in a relativistic, modern newsroom? The difference is often subtle. To the secular reporter, the latest murder-suicide is a terrible tragedy that cannot be explained except by the killer’s violent family background, poor education, or some other environmental factor. The Christian, however, recognizes the event for what it really is — a sin resulting from the personal moral failing of an individual who ought to be held personally accountable.

A proper understanding of human nature through a biblical worldview can be applied in the journalistic context to any topic that a reporter covers. The current worldwide economic crisis is a perfect example: few are willing to admit that the economic collapse is the result of irresponsible policies combined with a materialistic society that is unwilling and unable to govern itself, thus power must be centralized in the banks and in government. Christian journalists should be the ones to recognize the fallen state of man in every area of life.

Ultimately, our biblical worldview allows us to recognize that, although our efforts to contribute to the well-being of society may bear little fruit, nothing is outside the sovereignty of God. You learn to accept that as a student and as an intern. In college or at the entry-level position, there is very little a journalist can do that has a direct impact. You’re lucky if anyone reads your story.

When I entered into the journalism program in college I was mainly interested in the field because I had to pick something and I thought I might be a good writer. It also seemed like that was where all the fun people were at, but I had no dreams of being a reporter growing up. I soon learned that journalism isn’t the place for people who aren’t passionate about it. The constant deadlines of my internships helped to push me to think about why I was doing what I was doing and find a reason to keep going.

The reason came in service to others. I learned the lesson that hard work pays off, when you give your boss an exceptional story and put out the extra effort. The journalist doesn’t get anything out of it, except a byline. One of the best things you can do as a Christian in the newsroom is simply to live as a Christian, striving to serve the people in your office. Christians also need the humility to recognize that everyone in the newsroom thinks differently and that some of them are better at it. My boss at the local newspaper didn’t believe the same things I did about God, but she could definitely write a better lead than I could.

But I like to think that I made a difference in that newsroom because I made a conscious decision that I would be a servant to all, to be all things to all people, no matter how difficult the job could be. We are called to love one another, and that’s something that applies to every Christian whether you are a journalist or not. Love, through service, is the ultimate fruit of the interaction between faith and reason. To the extent that you can do that, you are fulfilling the highest calling and purpose of a Christian journalist.

If you want to be a journalist, and if you want to make a difference, then you absolutely have to grasp this truth. In all the debate over how our Christian faith ought to interact with human reason, and how we ought to carry that forward into whatever walk in life we are called to, Christians have forgotten that the answer has already been spelled out for us:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1).

Our words will fail and our journalistic abilities will disappoint. Graduating from college as young Christian journalists, as we are stepping closer to maturity and beginning to “put away childish things,” it should be reassuring to know that our calling is greater than merely becoming the next byline in the paper or anchor on TV.

The journalists who can apply this to their work are often the most effective and well-respected in their field. When asked how being a Christian had affected his journalism, Fred Barnes once said, more or less, “It didn’t.” He meant, of course, that being a Christian doesn’t change the conventions of the industry — one’s faith doesn’t make the lead the bottom graph or un-invert the inverted pyramid. And it doesn’t mean that the writer may now inject opinion into the story. A Christian journalist writes and reports in much the same way as any other reporter, but his drive is different. The purpose is service, in imitation of Jesus.