Posted by
Buster Foghorn on Monday, November 06, 2006 10:24:44 AM
On November 3, 2006, days before the mid-term election, “old media” [occasionally referred to as MSM or mainstream media] trumpeted two stories: a report of misconduct by Ted Haggard, a former president of the National Evangelical Association, with 30 million evangelical Christians, and a report about the Bush administration posting Internet documents seized from Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In both stories, however, old media more likely failed to achieve their desired result.
Throughout the day, the media focused on the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard, a Colorado evangelical pastor, for buying methamphetamine and possibly engaging in homosexual conduct with a male escort. (Subsequently, on November 5, 2006, Ted Haggard confessed to sexual misconduct, and he was removed from his duties as pastor of the New Life Church.) The excessive coverage about the pastor of a small church in Colorado suggested old media intended more than to attack just Ted Haggard. Reporting by old media about evangelicals is consistently negative and reflects their hostile attitude toward religion and the Christian message. In trumpeting the Ted Haggard story, could there be an anti-religious intent to demoralize Church members and persuade them to abandon their faith?
Ted Haggard’s fall from prominence and disgrace is a story of human imperfection. For believers, man’s fall is not news; rather, it confirms the need for faith and grace. In the absence of grace, Christians believe anyone can fall short, and Haggard’s unfortunate story won’t persuade believers their faith is a mistake. Therefore, rather than discouraging evangelicals, the story more likely convinced them to renew their faith and pray for the grace needed to resist temptation.
The second story concerned the recent discovery that some archived Iraqi documents captured during the war and posted on the Internet might serve as a nuclear primer and help states like Iran build a nuclear weapon. Apparently, the Times’ intended to criticize the Bush administration for incompetence. The New York Times switch to an incompetence theme for disclosing information to the public after several years of criticizing the administration for its secrecy, however, confirmed the value of the archived documents. The documents clearly show Iraq was a dangerous place during Saddam’s rule. By emphasizing the danger of posting some of the documents, the Times actually confirmed the reliability of the other Internet archived documents that show Saddam's contacts with terrorist, his future plans including what he intended to do after sanctions were lifted, and the seriousness of the situation when U.S. forces entered Iraq to remove Saddam.
Consequently, in both stories, old media rather than demoralizing Pastor Haggard’s followers more likely reaffirmed their belief that faith and grace are a necessary part of daily religious life, and old media rather than discouraging President Bush’s supporters more likely persuaded them the President is charting a more realistic course than the one portrayed by the New York Times and others in the old media.