Between the Lines XVI: 2024: The year of moral courage – in journalism
The new year used to be a time of cautious hope. Not in 2024. The default position of many commentators in the news media, as well as in social media, is that we’ll be lucky to still be breathing come December.
But turning away from the media – at least from honest media – is not the answer. Strong, morally courageous journalism, supported by moral courage in its readers and listeners, is sorely needed to uncover the hypocrisy and deception of bad actors and to support the mental battles we all must fight to keep ourselves and humanity safe.
Journalism that supports moral courage is not easy to find. A lot of journalism is careless, and even if done with good intentions, it unconsciously allows humanity to be dragged deeper into depression and helplessness. But there are plenty of people and places where courage, kindness and integrity thrive, in the news media, in social media and in life, and communicating that spirit can be inspiring. I’m thinking, for example, of an excellent series of articles in The Christian Science Monitor on young people around the world who are working to shape a future where climate change is not the inevitably destructive force many of their elders and peers expect.
But morally courageous journalism does not just cover what is good. It also brings evil to the surface and does so without animosity or fear, exposing the ultimate emptiness of evil’s threats. It bolsters moral courage in its audience and in society by standing firmly and without emotion against evil. As last week’s Between the Lines pointed out, “Moral courage is doing what’s right no matter the threats we face. It’s taking on the evils of the world without engaging in evil ourselves. To expose and criticize a corrupt politician out of hatred or fear is not moral courage. Moral courage is doing it out of love.”
Of course, morally courageous journalism can’t be conducted by just focusing on good news. Ersatz “good news” that tries to inspire hope by ignoring what is painful only communicates false comfort, putting people to sleep by sidestepping the unpleasant facts we all have to deal with. Neither is it morally courageous to magnify bad news. Some journalists do this in the name of waking people up, but waking people up can’t be done by scaring them to death. It can only be done by eliminating fear and replacing it with hope and peace. This kind of work is not naïve. It takes skill, alertness, perceptiveness and dedication on the part of the journalist as well as the audience.
David Darke in Holy War demonstrates the power of morally courageous journalism in focusing his column on the story of Tamar Tsmindashvili and her ongoing battle with personal fears, societal passivity and corrupt political forces. In following her, he describes how she proves, again and again, the healing power of love.
How does a morally courageous news medium communicate love and bring healing? In part, by focusing on the leading evil at any given time, laying it bare, and doing so with fearlessness and calm insight, reflecting love for God and humanity. This is not simple, of course. It’s easy to get distracted or intimidated in this work and focus on safer topics. But the leading evil is where audience attention should always be directed, in a way that encourages confidence, understanding and constructive action, not fear or hate. This leads to healing. Avoiding evil leads to passivity and ultimately hopelessness.
A morally courageous news organization also focuses primarily on the mental environment and only secondarily on the physical. It endeavors to wake people up by addressing perceptively whatever is threatening to drag them down. In Holy War this is called prophetic journalism because it prophesies the destruction of evil. It can also be called Christian journalism, because it is Christ coming to human thought, exposing evil, inspiring its self-destruction, and bringing purity, wisdom and peace to human thought. Christian journalism is part of the proof that God cares for man. It’s like effective prayer, a demonstration of the divine power that heals. This is ultimately what journalists must do to inspire moral courage in their audience: prove in their journalism (as well as in their own lives) the power of truth and love to heal.
The task is not easy. There are many people who hate such journalism because it can cause discomfort in those who are not ready to come clean, but this is no reason to avoid it. It wouldn’t hurt for all of us, journalist and audience alike, to adopt a prayer described in the book of Acts in the Bible: “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal.”