Engaging News Media encourages readers to examine their own thought processes to identify the mindset (attitudes, beliefs, biases) they bring to their encounter with news media. With those discoveries in place, the book takes open-minded readers inside the news business, providing insights and strategies for finding the truth, at least to the extent that news professionals provide it.
Professional Reviews
Armchair Interviews.com
...ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.--John 8:32
The author has a Ph.D in Mass Communications. Over the past twenty-five years he has worked as a news anchor, reporter and documentary writer and producer for numerous broadcast news organizations.
Kelly believes that communicating the truth to a mass audience is a daunting task, complicated by several factors. Many reporters state facts as truth, when in reality they are influencing the public's reactions due to simple hearsay. More often than not, everything we see, hear and read about in the news is not gospel.
Reporters are human with human foibles and their religious, political and psychological viewpoints often color their reports. At the same time, every person's reactions to the news is biased according to the same value system. In accepting or rejecting media reports, beliefs are critical in determining attitudes.
Kelly lists major American news organizations and their owners, categorizing them according to whether or not they are considered to be conservative, moderate, or liberal. He points out that the three major broadcasting networks, ABC, NBC and CBS are all considered to be moderate. This is due to their desire to produce news that will attract the most viewers. However, cable news networks such as CNN and MSNBC are more liberal, attempting to compete for the smaller cable news audience. As of 2005, FOX News, with a clearly conservative slant, has proven to be the most popular among viewers.
News critics blame reporters for neglecting important information that might skew the public's reactions to a particular news story, but they hold the owners of the broadcasting networks solely responsible for delivering the truth.
Kelly suggests that the public approach the media with a prayerful attitude, much the same as biblical scholars bring to the study of sacred texts.
I highly recommend this book for those who seek the truth and do not accept everything they see, hear, or read as factual until proven with certainty to be reality.
Armchair Interviews says: Interesting prospective on today's news.
Midwest Book Review
Experienced news anchor, reporter, and documentary writer Mark Kelley presents Engaging News Media: A Practical Guide for People of Faith, a guide to evaluating and verifying truthfulness amid the political opinions, bias, and sometimes outright BS strewn across the many lanes of the modern information superhighway. Though written by a person of faith especially to help other Christians sort through news media, Engaging News Media is emphatically not biased toward the hardcore conservative Christian perspective - nor is it biased toward a hardcore liberal perspective. The strategies presented are ones used by (religious or secular!) journalists themselves, and invaluable to anyone trying to understand the truth, regardless of personal faith. One such technique is learning how to triangulate alternative media - rather than accepting any one alternative media's viewpoint as gospel, consult multiple alternative media known to lean toward different sides of the issue and compare their stories. Another is to pay close attention to the very first thing a news story emphasizes, in order to get a better feel for what, if any, bias the story has. Engaging News Media seriously contemplates the question "What is Truth?" in the literal sense more than the metaphysical sense, and is very strongly recommended for readers of all backgrounds especially in today's era of misinformation.
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