Evangelicals Now
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The Commentary

Government by TV?

Government by TV?

It has been one of those months when the TV has not simply reported the news but has been making some of the biggest news headlines.

Channel 4 has been to the forefront. First it was surrounded in controversy as it defied calls to pull a programme featuring graphic images of the car crash which killed Princess Diana in Paris in 1997, despite this being requested by her sons. Then more trouble erupted as, for the second time, the Big Brother show broadcast racist language from one of the housemates. This time the Channel 4 chiefs took swift action and Emily Parr was dismissed from the programme.

Democracy and media

But perhaps we should take seriously the thought that it is the media which in a very real way always dictates the news. I am not just thinking of its editing of what is reported and what is not. (Much that goes on in the world, especially the persecution of Christians, fails to make the 6 O’Clock News.) My major thought is that there can be little doubt about the power of TV and radio to shape the thinking of the electorate and therefore of our democracy as a whole.

Over recent years it has often been commented that it is almost impossible to get a cigarette paper between the policies of the two main political parties on many issues. In late May David Cameron had to do something of a U-turn on his new policy against grammar schools because of a grass roots rebellion in his own party. But one has to ask why was he seeking to get rid of them anyway? A good case can no doubt be made both for or against grammar schools. But everyone knows that actually it is good schools we need, whether they are grammar or comprehensive. So what was the initial policy change really all about? One cannot help but suspect it was an exercise in repackaging the Tory party in a way which is more acceptable to the popular mindset.

But where does that mindset come from? It is not quite like George Orwell’s 1984, but it seems that there is a philosophy of tacit atheism, moral relativism and political correctness which, in subtle ways, from David Attenborough’s approach to nature to the assumptions behind questions put on Newsnight, etc., are preached to the viewing population. Yes, we have a democracy in this country, but with the decline of reading and of public meetings, the whole framework within which the political process unfolds is rigidly set by a kind of liberal-humanist ‘BBC culture’. In such an atmosphere, what chance for the gospel to be taken seriously?

The power of God

However, it may be that in many ways the blame for this state of affairs lies with us Christians. Even today many evangelicals over-react to the media. Obviously there are things broadcast which are wrong and sinful and I would not wish to defend these. But back in the 1960s when many of us began our Christian lives there seemed to be almost a campaign by a number of well-intentioned but actually clueless preachers telling us not to seek a career in the media as it was endemically ‘worldly’. Well, the TV and entertainment industries were more or less so abandoned by many Bible Christians. So let us not be too surprised if our country’s thinking is dominated by secularism preached every day to one and all by the box in the corner or the screen on the wall. But isn’t it great that even against such pervasive opposition, the gospel is growing (see front page article)? This shows the power of God.

John Benton