News Worthy?

EXTRA, EXTRA,    READ ALL ABOUT IT!

 

(1) Robin Williams Death

 

(2) Dolphin With Two Heads Washes Up on Turkish Beach 

 

Above is headlines I observed when opening Yahoo News. First bit of news I have the pleasure of viewing from Reuters is: Utah teen killed by truck while sunbathing in driveway.

 

Before anyone gets upset, I am certainly not attempting to negate the importance of the articles posted above. I am simply questioning the placement of these particular stories of interest along with millions of others that seem to take precedence over more pressing issues such as; um, I don't know, maybe the undeterred persecution and murder of innocent Christians in the Middle East http://www.christianpost.com/news/emboldened-isis-barbarically-slaughtering-christians-in-iraq-as-obama-plays-golf-124652/. We, as a society, are being fed daily by the information being sent out to us via; newspapers & radio (slowly becoming a thing of the past), television, Twitter updates & Facebook posts (more commonly used as our main source of information) at an alarming rate. In fact, I believe that even though it may be just a story about a dolphin with two heads that washes up on a Turkish beach, it becomes News in all the main stream media because it was trending on Twitter or Facebook received a million hits on the video alone. But the question remains: Is it Worthy?

While attempting to obtain a good definition of Newsworthy, I came across an article online entitled What Makes a Story Newsworthy that proved to be interesting. This article tells us that:

Timing is an important factor. Now, this I can understand. If there is something currently taking place in the world today that peaks the interest of the public then I would hope main stream media would cover this. The passing of actor Robin Williams definitely falls into this category. As devastating as this is, does it belong in the headlines? Should the death of a recognized movie star rate higher than say, Christians in Iraq being forced to choose between converting to Islam, paying a heavy tax that includes handing over female family members, or being the victim of a beheading? Both of these terrible things have happened within the last week, and Christians are still in fear of their very lives as I am blogging. The suicide of Robin Williams is at the top of the list though. I may be the only one, but there is something not pretty with this picture.


Significance appears second on the list. The number of people affected by the story is important. I concur. Lets take a look at the number affected here. Isis have successfully captured Iraq's largest Christian town, forcing the 50,000 residents of QaraQosh to flee and creating a humanitarian disaster. In the last week or two, a half million Christians have been driven from their homes in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. That is over 500,000 people that are directly affected by the Christian Genocide currently taking place.


The factors go on and on, but one in particular catches my interest. It happens to be the last one in the list entitled Human Interest. In giving a description of this particular factor I found that the article hit on the essence of what this blog post is all about. Human interest stories appeal to emotion. They aim to evoke responses such as amusement or sadness. They often disregard the main rules of newsworthiness. When I view all the news stories I am saddened by how often we as a society appear to be more emotionally involved in deaths of movie stars, where the President is playing golf, or what Justin Bieber is wearing today than we are in the attempted annihilation of a large segment of our Christian brothers and sisters. 


Be careful that we are paying attention to the things that matter, really matter. Life comes and goes, death will eventually be a part of our story. The things we do here on earth and what we stand for have eternal consequences, and you can trust that our adversary, Satan, is taking notes.


1 Peter 5:8-11The Message (MSG)

He Gets the Last Word

^8-11 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.