The shaping of conversation and discourse

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Popping up in many blogs is a link to a talk given by Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput on the topic,"Catholics and the Fourth Estate." It's a lengthy essay but one deserving of the attention of all of us who feed on the news prepared for us by the media.

Chaput reflects on dynamics and presuppositions that influence us daily news consumers. A great strength in the archbishop's presentation lies in his framing the issues in broad terms, of value to a wide audience. Though he closes with reference to some issues of particular concern to the Catholic Church, his argument here has wisdom for much wider appeal. When was the last time you heard a Catholic bishop strengthen his thesis with reference to the Federalist Papers, Thomas Jefferson and even Oscar Wilde? Chaput acknowledges that Wilde was "not exactly a model of piety and Spartan virtue" but nonetheless one who had "the gift of very keen perception" -- and that "we should think about what he said."

I offer below a few snips from the archbishop's talk and the link to his complete text. I believe that we who gather on this page (both blogger and commenters) can benefit from these words.

Here’s a simple fact: You and I have just begun a relationship. The moment you started listening to me, we struck a deal. You agreed to give me your attention. I agreed to give you my opinions. It’s a pretty common arrangement. But sometimes it can have unhelpful consequences.

Most of what we know about the world comes from people we’ll never meet and don’t really understand. We don’t even think of them as individuals. Instead we usually talk about them in the collective – as “the media” or “the press.” Yet behind every Los Angeles Times editorial or Fox News broadcast are human beings with personal opinions and prejudices. These people select and frame the news. And when we read their newspaper articles or tune in their TV shows, we engage them in a kind of intellectual intimacy in the same way you’re listening to me right now.

This isn’t necessarily a bad practice. Most readers who follow the columns of George Will or Paul Krugman do so because they share the author’s views or because they want to know what the other side is saying. And because Will and Krugman are both opinion journalists, we expect them to argue a certain set of ideas.

In like manner, anyone reading my own writings gets a pretty clear sense, pretty quickly, of how I think about issues. As a Catholic bishop, I belong to a believing community with a widely accessible and carefully articulated understanding of the world.

In contrast, we usually know very little about the person who writes an unsigned editorial or the people who create the nightly news. And that’s worth talking about. Here’s why. In an information society, the people who shape our information control the public conversation.
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Here’s my point. The news media, despite their claims of impartiality, and despite the good work they often do accomplish, are just as prone to prejudice, ignorance, bad craftsmanship and tribalism as any other profession. But unlike other professions, the press has constitutional protections. It also has real power in shaping how we think, what we think about and what we like, dislike and ignore. America’s media, including its news media, are the greatest catechetical syndicate in history. And if that kind of power doesn’t make us uneasy, it should at least make us alert.

(Read the complete text)

-ConcordPastor