It’s not all bad news
It's hard to escape the impression that Christians in general, and Bible-believing evangelical-type Christians in particular, get a pretty raw deal in the mainstream media.
At one level we're mostly ignored and marginalized. Our viewpoint is not regarded as being relevant, in normal circumstances, to whatever topic of public importance that is being debated—unless of course the Christian leader concerned is running a line that happens to fit with the purposes of the journalist. (This is how bishops who make pronouncements against the Iraq war get coverage in a way that bishops who make pronouncements about God, or sin, or morality, do not.)
About the only time we're not ignored is when some story comes along that allows us to be painted in a bad light—usually with respect to gay-hating, woman-hating, racism, child-abuse, fighting amongst ourselves or some other cheery topic. And typically, these stories are reported in a highly selective, distorted way that makes no attempt to represent the facts fairly, but which simply conveys the impression that the journalist wishes to convey at that point—witness the recent travesty of journalism in the reporting of comments by Phillip Jensen (see Ian's detailing of the distortions below).
When I see how we are consistently treated by The Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC, in particular, I often feel the indignation welling up within. “It's simply not right. It's not fair. There's no accountability.” Grumble, murmur, mutter.
But then, it occurred to me, the antagonism of the Fairfax press and the ABC might not be such a bad thing. After all, they were both fairly solid Labor backers at the recent federal election (Fairfax in particular), and the much-maligned Howard won with an increased majority.
Perhaps being dumped on all the time by the SMH and the ABC is not so bad for our reputation among a large portion of the population. After all, it seemed to work for the Coalition. Perhaps it might work for Bible-based Christians. We could wear it as a badge when we go evangelizing in the marginals: “Despised by the SMH and the ABC”. It just might open doors.