The Voice of the Media
Former BBC and ITV producer Stephen Lynas, who is now Parish Resources Adviser for the Bath and Wells diocese, gave a brilliant talk on the changing media and possible Christian responses to them, in the Mission Church this evening.
He began by outlining his career. Ordained 1978, he worked in BBC local radio (Stoke on Trent) before becomeing a Woman's Hour producer, and then moving to the BBC Religious Programmes Department. Changing to television, he produced Songs of Praise, and then changed to ITV where he worked, not so happily, for seven years.
Although he did not mention the fact, he was the Churches' Millennium Officer, and wrote a book about the Church and the Millennium, called Challenging Time.
His approach to his subject, Voices of the Media, was:
We are all extremely subject to the media, and we need to realise that whatever we learn from them is second hand, having been through editorial processes. Those who heard Tony Blair's interview on Parkinson will have gained a better understanding of what the Prime Minister said than those who saw a sound-bite on the news, or who read the newspaper reports.
Progress from one medium to many media has accelerated vastly. Since pre-history mankind has used speech to communicate. Around 10,000 BC writing enabled communication between persons in different places. In AD 1450 Gutenburg's invention of moveable type printing meant that many thousand copies of a work could be disseminated. It is not a coincidence that the Reformation followed shortly after the first printed works, including the Bible.
About 1860 the telegraph meant that almost instant communication between widely separated places in the world became possible. Wireless telegraphy or radio in 1910 made this much more effective. Television became widely used about 1960. Now use of the Internet is growing at an amazing rate. Over the course of just two years broadband use increased from 8% to 31% of the population of the UK.
Each medium has its individual characteristics.
- Radio, a 'one to one' medium where the broadcaster addresses 'the listener', is slightly increasing its audience.
- Television, a 'many to one' medium, is being watched for more hours a week by the average person.
- Newspapers, where the 'chosen few' journalists who support the editorial line address the reader, find their circulations falling.
- The Internet, where the individual receives information and views from an unknown stranger, is booming.
A person's choice of newspaper shows something about their world view. None of the audience this evening reads the Sun, the paper read by 20% of UK men. This suggests that we are out of touch with the majority. The circulation figures of the national newspapers are:
A humorous summary of the readership of the various national newspapers is:
- The Times is read by the people who run the country
- The Fanancial Times is read by the people who own the country
- The Guardian is read by the people who think they ought to run the country
- The Independent is read by people who don't know who runs the country but are sure they're doing it wrong
- The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country
- The Daily Express is read by the people who think the country ought to be run as it used to be run
- The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it still is run as it used to be run
- the Morning Star is read by people who think this country ought to be run by another country
- The Daily Mirro is read by the people who think they run the country
- And the Sun's readers don't care who runs the country provided she has big tits.
Notice that circulation does not equal influence, and that newspaper circulations are falling. Newspapers contain less news, more comment and more entertainment.
Television viewing has changed as digital channels pick up 29% of the audience. In 1984 there were just four channels. ITV had 49% of the audience, BBC1 36%m BBC2 11% and Channel 4 4%. This year ITV has only 23%, BBC1 25%, BBC2 9%, Channel 4 8% and Channel 5 6%. The rest is digital.
A Christian perspective
1. The nature of God - In the beginning was the Word ... God is a communicator; that's what he does.
2. The task of Jesus' disciples: God and tell ... That's what we are meant to do.
Issues for Christians
include:- Whose spectacles are you looking through? Nothing is free from bias.
- Media can be
- enriching
- an escape from reality
- dangerous
- a tool for the Gospel
Questions for Christians
- How do you test your media?
- Can we expect the media to promote Christianity?
- How can the media help your prayers?
- What about a vocation to work in the media?
