A lover of words, I am increasingly aware of and concerned by the news I hear and read, finding myself critiquing not only the words that journalists choose, but also the intentions they convey. For example, this morning I listened to an interview on N.P.R. between a reporter and a fisherman who had lost a year’s income in 1989 due to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The fisherman explained that he had submitted a request to the oil company for the loss and was reimbursed. However, he added, Exxon required him to submit his former three years’ tax returns as proof of his income, and that “It’s like someone asking you when your house is on fire to dig out your tax returns from two years ago.”
Did he really think that Exxon was unreasonable for expecting proof of his loss? That’s hard for me to believe. To be fair, the fisherman was probably responding to the reporter’s prompting for a juicy story, and who knows whether or how the story was edited to convey the truth according to the reporter’s personal slant on the issue.
St. Gregory the Great, pope, contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of the just, noting that the way of the former is to “veil one’s thoughts with words, to make what is false appear true and what is true appear false,” while the latter’s is to “never pretend anything for show, always to use words to express one’s thoughts, to love the truth as it is and to avoid what is false” (Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. III). This is the code of ethics to which media should aspire.
The goal of Christian spiritual columns is twofold: to help people realize Christ’s presence in their daily lives and to challenge them to discipleship. Philosophically, the column must establish the writers’ credibility, engage readers, and deliver a clear message. Ultimately, spiritual columnists intimately invite readers to join them on the journey to discover and cultivate the purpose for which they were uniquely created.
Columnists establish their credibility over time; truth and integrity must shine throughout their body of work. While readers may initially be attracted to a columnist’s wit or way with words, long-standing columnists survive by earning and sustaining their readers’ trust. Column by column, writers must scatter grains of wisdom on the page to feed the readers’ minds. Thus they gain their trust and open their hearts to the message of living in Christ. As St. Paul said, “Moreover, it is required of stewards [i.e., using their gifts] that they be found trustworthy” (I Cor 4:2).
Within their publication’s deadline and word count allotted them, columnists’ play with sentence structure, use of tense and punctuation, until, after much re-reading and scrutiny, they claim it sufficient. Rarely do writers declare their work “good,” leaving its value up to their readers to decide for themselves.
Innately, spiritual columnists know that the more they reveal about their inner hopes and dreams, the deeper bond they establish with their readers. In a real sense, columnists become beloved members of their readers’ families. Bringing them into their hearth and home, they invite readers to participate in their message, and to the feelings of challenge, struggle, hope, love, and joy their messages engender.
For the few minutes a day, week or month that columnists and loyal readers share, the bond of two like minds, hearts and souls is strengthened and they walk the earth affirmed in the path of God’s one truth. May all journalists aspire to this code of ethics.
And so I pray: Dear Lord, strengthen my words that they may express the truth as it is, avoid falsehood and help others walk in your way.
