The bible describes the men of Issachar as ‘men who had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chronicles 12:32). It’s important that we too understand the times so we can know what we ought to do. We do that by being biblically informed but also by being informed about our world. What we’ve discussed here only begins to scratch the surface of what a theology of the news should look like, but I think it’s a vital conversation to start having.
That’s a quote from a conversation I had with
recently, which he published over on his Substack. You can read that here.This will be my addition to that discussion.
I like the term “a theology of news” because we should have a theology of pretty much everything. “Theology™️” gets a bad wrap due to the tendency of theology nerds to beat each other over the head with what they think to be the only possible correct biblical interpretation of whatever the question may be. This approach has ruined friendships, split churches, and even given some the excuse they needed to abandon their faith altogether. Unfortunately, we are sinful people. In our sin, we are capable of taking a very good thing, the study of God, and using it to justify our sin. Nonetheless, there should be a theology of news because the study of God tells us that this is God’s world and news exists in His world so it would probably be good to know what God thinks about it.
I don’t know that this post is really an effort to develop such a theology as much as it is the opening argument for one potential tenet of such a theology: gatekeepers are inevitable, so you better pick the right ones.
Last week, Nick Saban announced his retirement around 4:00pm Wednesday afternoon. For the next 49 hours, Alabama fans experienced a unifying news event as we waited to see who would fill the GOAT’s shoes. Much of this played out on social media, which has been the best and worst thing for the news industry, depending on who you ask: legacy media or new media. This Alabama coaching search was a master class in contract negotiation and propaganda from agents, beat writers, and various institutions. But in terms of media literacy, this was about as bad as it gets. Why? Because anyone can hear something from “a source.”
“I heard Mrs. Terry has dementia. It’s Dan Lanning and this has been in the works for weeks, maybe even months.”
“My guy says Lane Kiffin is in Tuscaloosa as we speak!”
Etc, etc, etc…
Hundreds, if not thousands, of posts just like this over 49 hours made the search seem like 49 days. But each post does something to the brain… And eventually overloads it with information that is pointless until something becomes official.
This is a somewhat silly example, I admit. Football matters way too much to too many people, but the principle is exactly the same with any other kind of news. As Lance and I discussed in his post, misinformation can and does exist. However, it’s most certainly not limited to X-Twitter. The gatekeepers of legacy media can be just as guilty of “misinformation” on their various airwaves and in their pages. My argument has less to do with the danger of misinformation or media literacy and more to do with the fact that the way many of us consume news and information is unsustainable at best and dangerous at worst. It’s probably even making us stupid, but read Neil Postman to learn more about that.
I’ve seen some advice out there suggesting the only way to overcome the bias and misinformation of legacy media is to get all your news from something like X-Twitter and use it as an aggregator. I admire the idea, but that’s not sustainable either because there’s just too much out there. I can think of issues I’ve changed my mind on twice in the last year solely because of X-Twitter discourse. Part of me thinks that’s good because I’ve grown and shaped my opinions, but another part of me wonders if I could have arrived at the same conclusions in other ways. There are no gatekeepers on X-Twitter. That’s good and bad, and we have to learn to be responsible consumers. I think the best way to do this is to be more thoughtful about finding gatekeepers and knowing their biases but trusting them for what they are. Find a handful of sources you go to with different perspectives. You need a little breadth in order to avoid an echo chamber but you don’t need to ignore depth entirely.
So, I’ll give some of the options I value… But first, let me lay down a couple general rules.
Reading is better than listening and listening is better than watching. Again, Neil Postman wrote a ton about this, so I won’t belabor that point too long.
Perhaps my biggest red pill moment of the last few years is the necessity to be extremely careful with almost anything that claims to be “conservative media.” At this point, Conservative Media™️ is nothing but an industry. I’ll leave the who/what of that to your imagination, but just tread lightly with certain networks, podcasts, or personalities. Don’t fall victim to the grift.
WORLD News… WORLD has been around for a long time and it is explicitly Christian in its mission. That doesn’t mean there’s a gospel presentation at the end of every article. It just means they care about journalism as a pursuit of truth because truth is important to God. I get the magazine twice a month as well as their newsletters throughout the week. They also have a daily podcast, WORLD Radio, covering everything from politics to culture to money, etc.
Wall Street Journal… This is the most mainstream I’m willing to get. It’s probably the most fair and balanced you’ll get out of this kind of paper. Also, not cheap. I like it a lot, but I’m on an introductory offer right now or else I wouldn’t pay for it.
Morning Wire… is a 15 minute daily podcast from the Daily Wire. They own their conservative bent, but it’s pretty much just news without any of the opinion or commentary from their regular hosts.
The Remnant News… is very similar to The Pour Over, if you’ve heard of that. They’re both newsletters sent out three times a week. TRN is just better than TPO. I tried TPO and it just seemed like even though they meant well, they slapped a Bible verse at the end of every story in a way that didn’t really apply all that much. The Remnant offers responses to their stories too, but they’re a lot more in depth and they cite plenty of scripture to support their response. Maybe that’s just me, but if you’ve tried TPO, I’d recommend trying TRN, too.
VOX… I don’t read this one as much as I should, but they cover the news from a completely different perspective than what I would typically agree with, so it’s good to read stuff like that from time to time. That’s how you protect yourself against the echo chambers.