From: Denyse O'Leary (oleary@sympatico.ca)
Date: Thu Apr 03 2003 - 07:53:04 EST
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
> The media does not want evolutionists to look at religion. The media leftists
> wants organized religion ended. That is why the media will air a creationist
> or any crackpot before airing a credible intelligent religious Christian man.
Now here I must jump in, because I work in media.
Please! There is no long-term media plan regarding religion. No such
plan is even possible.
Media people tend to be less religious than others, but that mostly
works against the media people, not for them.
They keep barking their shins on stories they should have been covering.
They lose credibility as a result.
Believe me, in a world whose biggest public story is Islamic extremism,
ignorance about religion is NOT an adaptive trait in a journalist.
Example: Many New Yorkers would be alive today if enough media people
had paid attention to real news in religion to broadcast the threat
mounted by international Islamic extremism and the relatively weak and
conflicted US response prior to 9-11.
In recent years, many media outlets have beefed up their religion
coverage precisely in order to prevent further embarrassment, eventually
leading to disaster, due to ignorance and incompetence.
There IS opportunity out there. What are you doing to take advantage of it?
(Lefty's opinions are not news and they usually run on a slow news day.)
> It is not the the demand for your events is low but the media funnel prevents
> your message from getting to the people who could apprehend it and respond to
> it, there are countless rationally bound religionists who've lost the faith
> and need to know that religion is not irrational.
Okay, so we have now identified an action question: How do you get
through the media funnel?
Here are some related questions:
- Who do you think should attend your event?
- What media sources reach them?
- Who writes for those sources? (Many journalists now publish e-mail
addresses, so if you don't know them yet, you could change that. Study
the articles and columns, and pick a journalist who is relatively
thoughtful, who covers an area relevant to science.)
- What can you offer the journalist as a story that people would read?
Are you willing to debate the creationist publicly? Call a press
conference of local Christian evolutionists in science for the afternoon
of the evening that he speaks?
How about sponsoring a debate between a Christian evolutionist and one
of a number of ID speakers with science credentials? You might be able
to tie it in to science teaching issues, and draw in the school board
reporter.
You might also take the opportunity to affirm belief in academic
freedom. There have been several recent incidents where people with
unorthodox views on evolution have received a rough ride. A competent
journalist would want to know where you stand on this. Where does ASA stand?
The thing to remember is that opinions, by themselves, are not usually a
story. You have to make your opinions into a story by making them count
for something.
> "Once the reasoning associated with scientific thought loses its status as
> the only adaptive way to think, othe forms of thought associated with
> religion cease to be objects of scorn and incomprehension and can be studied
> as adaptations in their own right." David Sloan Wilson - Darwin's Cathedral
>
Bear in mind that most religious people despise anyone who believes
things because they are adaptive and not because they are true. This
quality, known as "cynical opportunism," is not widely admired anywhere.
Denyse
-- To see what's new in faith and science issues, go to www.designorchance.com My next book, By Design or By Chance?: The Growing Controversy Over the Origin of Life in the Universe (Castle Quay Books, Oakville) will be published Fall 2003.To order, call Castle Quay, 1-800-265-6397, fax 519-748-9835, or visit www.afcanada.com (CDN $19.95 or US$14.95).
Denyse O'Leary 14 Latimer Avenue Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5N 2L8 Tel: 416 485-2392/Fax: 416 485-9665 oleary@sympatico.ca www.denyseoleary.com
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