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The Commentary

Creative with the truth?

Back in the days of Margaret Thatcher and the Australian ‘Spycatcher’ trial, Sir Robert Armstrong brought the phrase ‘being economical with the truth’ into contemporary usage. It means conveying an untrue version of events.

Over the summer we have seen a crisis of trust developing between British audiences and those responsible for what is shown on our TV screens. Broadcasters have been caught manipulating the truth; perhaps they would say being ‘creative’ with it in order to produce greater impact. The latest example emerged at the beginning of August. ITV was to transmit a documentary titled Malcolm and Barbara: Love’s farewell, on the tragedy of an Alzheimer’s case. No doubt this is a worthy and moving subject. But before it was broadcast it came to light that the final scene was intentionally misleading. Here the patient ‘passes away’. The man’s brother blew the whistle. Malcolm Pointon actually died three days later.

The BBC had already faced controversy over editorial dishonesty. In July news broke that the Corporation had sometimes deceived viewers over phone-in competitions on the programmes Blue Peter, Children in Need and Comic Relief. The fact that the last two shows are involved in raising money for charity made the revelations particularly shocking. And all this followed the furore over a trailer shown by the BBC which appeared to show the Queen storming out of a photo-shoot when she had done nothing of the kind; scenes had been reversed to give that impression. But, supposedly, such drama would have attracted more viewers and who cares about truth in the battle to increase your audience ratings?

Scripture’s integrity

All this might well make the Christian glad that the Bible was written when it was and not in present-day culture. Now the media can cut and paste and manipulate to deceive. ‘Isn’t that what the Bible does?’ assumes many a non-Christian. But besides simply not having the technology which is around today to distort reality, we need to remind people that there are solid reasons why, even from a human point of view, the biblical writers were far more likely to be accurate than TV producers today. The ten commandments forbid bearing false witness. To do so could even cost someone their life (Deuteronomy 19.16-21). Again, so keen are the writers of Scripture on truth that they even record those things which reflect badly on their heroes — like Abraham’s failures of faith and David’s adultery. But, further, the very structure of the Bible argues for it being truth which has come from God. In the Old Testament we read of many promises made. There is a gap of hundreds of years. Then, with all the historical evidence to hand, we read in the New Testament of promises kept in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not even the abilities of contemporary computer wizardry are up to fabricating that.

Wasn’t it interesting, therefore, that in July, sifting through the cuneiform tablets in the British Museum, yet more evidence arose to underline Scripture’s integrity? There Michael Jursa, associate professor at the University of Vienna, found reference, dating from 595BC, to a commercial transaction by Nebo-Sarsekim, an officer who, according to Jeremiah 39.3, was present when his Babylonian master Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem. Jursa told the press: ‘Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment…and quoting the exact date, is quite extraordinary.’

It appears we have more reason to put question marks over the modern media than over the Bible. Absence of the fear of God leads to an absence of truth.

John Benton