“Good Night, and Good Luck” – Dealing with Truth, Facts, and Opinions

Some of you perhaps followed CNN’s live showing of the Broadway play, “Good Night, and Good Luck”, telling the story of famous CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow, and his battle with McCarthyism and threats to journalism in the early 1950’s. The point in this play was to draw parallels to challenges to the news media in the second Trump Administration, calling out the harm to First Amendment rights and undermining Democracy, which we have heard much about during the Trump era.  

After the showing of the play, there was a fascinating panel discussion among self-proclaimed journalists about the takeaways from the performance.  There was immediate confusion among the group about reporting the truth, which to some was synonymous with facts. One argued that truth was related to one’s values, which didn’t necessarily align with the objective facts a good journalist is supposed to focus on in reporting news. Another term surfaced, “advocacy”, that called out the current state of journalism, where reporting news is tinged with one’s point of view, so the facts are aligned more with a pro-Trump, anti-Trump bias, for example, instead of just the facts.   

Journalism is about doing research first, then reporting findings/facts, regardless of one’s opinions or bias toward a particular point of view.  Today, we are bombarded with bias, supported by evidence that is selected or highlighted to support a particular point of view, as reported by opinion reporters calling themselves “journalists”.  The CNN panelists pondered over the low opinion polls, where the majority of Americans surveyed distrusted legacy media organizations and their representatives.  All things considered, the current state of news reporting has added to the reality of a divided country, which relies on a biased new media for daily reporting of what’s going on in our country and the world. 

As Christians, as people of faith, our truth, our values, rely on our belief in God, where right from wrong should essentially be the same generation after generation, and not subject to other’s opinions, using selected facts to support their opinions. Jesus laid down the law, and we should not let the world of contemporary advocacy change the basic principles of our faith. Yes, we have a bias toward our long held Christian values, which is our truth, based on a belief in the supremacy of God, who sent his only Son, who suffered and died for our sins, rose from the dead making life everlasting with God a reality.  Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, to enable us to know God’s will for our lives, and to discern how we can make a difference, despite the confusion in the world of so-called journalism.  

Have a Blessed Sunday!

-Joe