The Day That Journalism Died
February 3, 1959 has been immortalized as “the day the music died”.
That was the day that Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash.
For songwriter Don McClean the tragedy symbolized the “loss of innocence” of early rock and roll.
For me, August 30, 2014 was the day that journalism died.
That was the day that Charles Bowden passed away.
It was also the day my heart stopped functioning properly, quite literally broken by the news.
Bowden hated the term journalist…he was a reporter.
“I don’t keep a (expletive) journal”, he would growl.
He had contempt for American corporate journalism and “journalists” because they were mouthpieces for power…while in Latin America reporters were giving their lives to speak truth to power.
Bowden reported what he saw and he sought the truth no matter the cost to himself.
He was unafraid of those in power and he couldn’t be bought…he died almost penniless.
He raged against falsehood and injustice…”attention must be paid” he said, echoing the words of another writer.
His concern was for the victims of power, not power itself.
He was, I think, the last of his kind.
That is why my mourning has known no end.
I mourn especially because the Christian community has never had a Bowden to lose and we are “informed” by spineless toadys whose only goal is to create web traffic, sales, and income.
Christianity Today, The Christian Post, and the Assist News Service, are just a few examples of the baptized media whores who prop up and protect the wolves that are eating evangelicalism from the inside out.
They do so to protect the bottom line, not the people of God.
“Investigative reporting” is left to that most loathsome of creatures, the blogger.
Contrary to popular belief, bloggers don’t have “organizations”, nor do they have expense accounts, nor do they profit from their work unless they sell out the same way that “legitimate” journalism does.
They don’t often do so…they rarely have the opportunity to do so if they wished to.
When the last stories about Saeed Abedini and Gospel For Asia are finally written they will be an embarrassment to power and those who wrote about it in the mainline Christian media.
Those stories will also be an embarrassment to all those in power who covered for them.
I believe they are already an embarrassment to God.
In the end, it will have been the blogger who uncovered the truth and wrote the real stories.
Their work will be stolen and unaccredited to them,rewritten and published in corporate media when safe and profitable to do so.
It will have been written out of a love for truth and the people of God who should have been protected.
It will have cost the writers, not profited them.
Perhaps “journalism” isn’t dead yet after all…God bless my fellow broken hearted bloggers in arms.
Yes journalism is pretty much dead. It is bought sold and prostituted. Journalists are whores and hounds. The motives are self serving and prejudiced.
of course I am a pastor,
We might be worse, ask anyone.
I wrote this purely for my own benefit and soul…and in gratitude for the comrades in arms I have that I didn’t have when I started.
Michael, you perhaps think that i don’t get it, but i do and i agree with every word you’ve written in this post… i’ve seen many good things and ideas die over my lifetime – i suspect corruption will always ultimately prevail until our Lord’s return…
i admire your insights, but i sometimes forget your tender heart – i apologize for that – except where my children are concerned, God has given me the gift of detachment (not the same as denial) – i thank Him for that – without Him, i’d be dangerous, i guess – without Him, frankly, i’d probably not have reached a ripe (ugh) old age…
God keep
Em,
My strength is my weakness…I don’t detach well and tend to feel everything too much.
You owe me no apology…you’re one of my (and our) treasures here.
Buy the truth and sell it not…
Where in the world is someone who wants the truth more than they want to be sourced.
It seems that the combination of the dispersion of information over the internet and the tenacity of bloggers is killing traditional journalism. It’s getting harder and harder for us news consumers to find trustworthy sources. There’s a lot of information out there, but its quality is very difficult to discern. I’m at the point where I am skeptical of just about everything.
What day is it? 🙂
i’m not sure that tender heart is a “weakness” – would this blog be here, if you didn’t possess it?
one thing i love about the original 12 disciples that the Lord chose, is that they seem to represent so many different personality types – and you may be more like old Peter than you know – “if you’re going to hang me, then hang me upside down – dammit!!!” lol
Jean, what day follows Sunday? 🙂
i think that journalism has always been a bit biased – the publisher rules… now it’s just shallow and careless… sometimes, if you’re watching TV, the commercials seem a part of the broadcast, itself
It will be interesting when all the stories come out. And I believe that generally, what is said in secret does get shouted from the rooftops eventually. Assist News Service is beginning to look like a parasite on the Body of Christ, to me at least.
One angle to these sort of stories is the level of paranoia in the Church. It is almost as if we need to believe that we are being persecuted or face immanent threat to our lives because of faith.
Both the GFA and Saeed stories only work because of this paranoia and victim-hood. In the 2013 GFA financial report, a cover letter specifically addressed “international security concerns.” It was the only issue in the three sentence letter and requested no dissemination of the report. Secrecy, or it’s perceived need, is a central foundation to the fraud, corruption and all-round buffoonery now rampant in the Church.
In the last week there has been online discussions over at WT about anti GFA allegations appearing to have originated from mentally ill persons. Previously, I looked at these sort of allegations as online litter. Now, I’ve changed my mind. If a major ministry is claiming they receive “internet persecution” they should be called out.
In the GFA allegations, the individuals go to great lengths to describe the voices hey hear in their heads. GFA goes to great lengths to describe the massive persecution they face in India. This persecution is coming from who? People with voices in their heads?
Saeed, GFA, or whatever ministry of the week, should be expected to identify the who, what, when and where of persecution claims if that is the basis for soliciting the Christian community. In GFA’s case, identifying their persecutors is a legitimate question for the witness stand. If said persecution turns out to be a couple of mentally ill persons hunched over a keyboard in India, GFA management should face the loss of credibility in front of a jury.
It’s time for a new era in the Church. Let’s call it The Great Embarrassment Age.
Em,
The other night I had an epiphany of sorts.
I was drowning in a sea of unpleasant information whilst trying to remember when my heart condition became noticeable for my doctors.
I hate to say that “the Lord showed me” anything, but the symptoms started right around the time of Bowdens death.
I’ve never really gotten over that…and I needed to know why.
Now, I know…and I had to write it out or be captive to it.
Well said, Nathan…
@ #7 – sitting there drinking my second cup of coffee and eating my bowl of cold cereal (i hate cold cereal), it dawned on me that you can’t hang/lynch someone upside down
maybe i could get a job as a script writer for Dumb and Dumber? lol
Maybe this has already been posted and commented upon:
Bono Wants Christian Music To Get More Honest
The U2 musician said that he sees a “lot of dishonesty” in modern Christian music.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bono-wants-christian-music-to-get-more-honest_us_5720f787e4b0f309baef690d
Replace the word “music” with the word “journalism” and you get the same result.
I am grateful for bloggers like Michael who are not following the world system. I am glad that there are writers who care about the truth and are not pursuing worldly fame and wealth by playing “the game.” I am glad that there are musicians who are doing music out of a love for the art and God himself and not making it all about themselves. I am glad that there are a few good pastors like mine who are doing their best to follow their conscience and the Holy Spirit instead of “the God of Success.” His church went from being one of the biggest here to a few dozen without scandal being involved. God tested his heart, just as he does to all of us. He went through a Gideon like test and got freed up from the ol’ horse and pony show. God’s Kingdom is upside down from the world. If only Christians had eyes to see…
Michael,
Over the years, I have grown to respect you so much. Your integrity, compassion towards the hurting, and dedication to truth is admirable.
I feel honored to know such a man with a true shepherd’s heart. Thank you for all you do!
Julie Anne,
Thank you my friend…you know the feeling is mutual. 🙂