critique of "Christian View Of Journalism"by David Aikman

Every profession has a positive or negative connotation attached to it, meaning it’s either a honorable or dishonorable profession to have. We may not consciously have these thoughts, but they are there. For example when one thinks of a lawyer often they think of someone who is deceptive or sneaky. We have all heard a lawyer joke or two before, a perfect example being a one-liner that I have heard on more than one occasion: “How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?” and the punch line is, “His lips are moving.” This implies that lawyers are very deceitful people, with every word out of their mouth being a lie. This is obviously not true of all, but we still assign this connotation to all lawyers. An example of a positive connotation would one that we assign to journalists. They are seen as truth seekers, and as an honest group of people, when often this is far from the truth. They have a hidden agenda, looking out more for their story and themselves, then for the subject of the story. In the article it starts out with a discussion at a university with a dozen panelists, two of them being Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace, who are both reporters. They were asked that if they were invited to follow a enemy nation in a mission that would result in the death of American troops, would they go? At first Jennings said he would do everything in his power to warn the Americans, but Wallace was out raged saying that he doesn’t have a higher calling then one to be a journalist. Personally I find that to be absolutely slimy, selfish and cruel! The only reason they have the right to be a reporter, is because they are American first. Why would they put their career above people? I understand there is a desire for truth, but what about the sanctity of human life, or loyalty to your country? It seems that journalists have this all for one attitude, and care only about the impact their assignment will have on themselves and their own career, but they do not care how it impacts anyone else. When I think of journalist in the secular world, I seldom think of a kind caring human being, but of someone who is out for their own good only and the advancement of their own career. What investigative journalism has become is not what it started out as, and not what it should be, and the key to changing it as Christians is to put people before career, it’s that simple. We love others because Jesus loves us.