The News Media, Jerry Sandusky, and Illusion

During my undergraduate years, I took a class at American University called “News Media and Foreign Policy.” Essentially, the class focused on the effect that the news media has in shaping foreign policy.

Our primary textbook, entitled, News: The Politics of Illusion, by W. Lance Bennett, defines “political news” as information that “newsmakers (politicians and other political actors) promote as timely, important, or interesting[,] from which news organizations select, narrate, and package for transmission (via communication technologies) to people who consume it at a given time in history” (Bennett, 11).

Doris Graber, in “Adapting Political News to the Needs of Twenty-First Century Americans,” says that “news is not just any information, or even the most important information about the world; rather, the news tends to contain information that is timely, often sensational (scandals, violence, and human drama frequently dominate the news) and familiar (stories often drawing on familiar people or life experiences that give even distant events a close-to-home feeling)” (Bennett, 11).

Bennett’s assertion throughout his book is that politics and foreign policy do not happen in a vacuum. They are shaped by external forces, one of which is the news media. He argues that the news media plays a large role in how the United States interacts with the world and does not want the public to know how large its influence really is. They want the public to think they are merely reporting the facts without bias, rather than shaping the news and the audience’s perceptions of, and reactions to, the news as it occurs. Thus, the name of the book.

Now, what does this information have to do with Jerry Sandusky? Well, I’d like to argue that in the same way that the news media shapes U.S. national policy, media also shapes what we think about our own hearts. I also want to argue again that the mere volume of sensational articles that we see about evil, violence, and scandal make us immune to the sin in our own lives.

Only Jesus Opens Blinded Eyes

I’ve been reading Charles C. Ryrie’s Basic Theology over the last year with my fellow McLean Bible Church Residents (second year Future Leaders). We meet monthly to discuss different theological topics and gain a solid understanding of where MBC stands doctrinally. I really appreciate that I have the opportunity to learn and grow in my understanding of Scripture – and it’s part of my job!

As this year has progressed, I’ve found myself always eager to dive into the next section of Ryrie’s book. I don’t always agree with him, but I’ve enjoyed skimming the surface of a lot of doctrinal topics this year and it’s built great anticipation in my heart for the coming three years I’ll spend in seminary.