A Gathering Voices post by Lynne M. Baab
For a week now I’ve been reading the local newspaper as I eat my breakfast. If I’m home for lunch, I continue reading it over lunch. A few evenings a week, I’m also reading news online. I’m coming out of my news fast, which began in mid June.
I’m struck by several things as I reengage with news media.
1. Local-ness really matters to me. I really do enjoy knowing what’s happening in my community: A spate of burglaries in a particular neighborhood. A decision by the city council. An out of season weather pattern. I felt strongly that my news fast (as enjoyable as it was) couldn’t last forever. I want to be an informed voter. All of those local tidbits I read in the newspaper help me see patterns of what’s happening in my city, which helps me vote more responsibly in local and national elections.
2. At the same time as I enjoy the pattern of small and large news items that make up the day’s news, I am also struck by how banal so much of the news is. Throughout this news fast I have pondered how I’m going to find news that I actually want to read and that actually feels right to read. At one point in the fast, I decided that I should pray more often before I pick up the newspaper or go online for news, asking God to guide me as I read. I haven’t done that in my first week back with the newspaper, and I need to do it.
3. Speaking of banality, the national and international news often falls into that category as well. I must confess to a love of following presidential election politics. Ever since mid December, I’ve been reading a bit about the jostling for the nomination for the Republican candidate for president. So much of it has no lasting value. With Ron Huntsman bowing out of the race, I can only be glad I didn’t spend a lot of time reading about him.
4. Perhaps I should talk about addiction, rather than banality. As I dip my toe back into the news, I can see already that certain topics engage my interest much, much more than others. (Presidential election politics for one.) I can read about those topics long past the point of reason, grace and love. I can get so absorbed that I enjoy watching for mud-slinging that parallels my own opinions. I sometimes delight in the downfall of people I haven’t agreed with.
Six months away from the news has brought these patterns into focus for me. I know I need to engage with the news, at least to some extent. I know I need to pray more as I begin to read, and pray after I read as well for the needs I’ve read about. I know I have a tendency to go too far when I read about some topics.
I know I’ve got to reflect and pray some more about this topic. When I do, the scripture that keeps coming to my mind is Philippians 4:8, and I find myself wondering, over and over, how a person can remain faithful to Paul’s words while also engaging with news media. I guess it’s a wrestling match that never ends.
Philippians 4:8 says: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” A wrestling match indeed to honor these words and engage with the news.
(Here are the previous posts about my news fast: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.)
