HOIST ON HIS OWN PETARD

God, Satan and the Media (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, March 4, 2003, NY Times)

Claims that the news media form a vast liberal conspiracy strike me as utterly unconvincing, but there's one area where accusations of institutional bias have merit: nearly all of us in the news business are completely out of touch with a group that includes 46 percent of Americans.

That's the proportion who described themselves in a Gallup poll in December as evangelical or born-again Christians. Evangelicals have moved from the fringe to the mainstream, and that is particularly evident in this administration. It's impossible to understand President Bush without acknowledging the centrality of his faith. Indeed, there may be an element of messianic vision in the plan to invade Iraq and "remake" the Middle East. [...]

I tend to disagree with evangelicals on almost everything, and I see no problem with aggressively pointing out the dismal consequences of this increasing religious influence. For example, evangelicals' discomfort with condoms and sex education has led the administration to policies that are likely to lead to more people dying of AIDS at home and abroad, not to mention more pregnancies and abortions.

But liberal critiques sometimes seem not just filled with outrage at evangelical-backed policies, which is fair, but also to have a sneering tone about conservative Christianity itself. Such mockery of religious faith is inexcusable. And liberals sometimes show more intellectual curiosity about the religion of Afghanistan than that of Alabama, and more interest in reading the Upanishads than in reading the Book of Revelation.

This is priceless. Here's how the Times has handled the evangelicals in just two particularly notorious recent examples that we've noted:
The first was a really despicable slur by Bill Keller, labelling the entire Christian right "bigots", The Soul of George W. Bush (Bill Keller, NY Times) :

Nor can Mr. Bush be claimed by the culture warriors of the Christian right, although he gave them John Ashcroft and occasionally throws them a steak. The president is not a bigot, or a pessimist.

the second a rather breathless front page piece about Christian radio stations crowding out NPR, Religious and Public Stations Battle for Share of Radio Dial (BLAINE HARDEN, September 15, 2002, NY Times)

The Rev. Don Wildmon, founding chairman of a mushrooming network of Christian radio stations, does not like National Public Radio.

"He detests the news that the public gets through NPR and believes it is slanted from a distinctly liberal and secular perspective," said Patrick Vaughn, general counsel for Mr. Wildmon's American Family Radio.

Here in Lake Charles, American Family Radio has silenced what its boss detests.

It knocked two NPR affiliate stations off the local airwaves last year, transforming this southwest Louisiana community of 95,000 people into the most populous place in the country where "All Things Considered" cannot be heard.

which prompted this from the Times editors, Some Things Considered (NY Times,9/17/02):

Every devoted radio listener has experienced it at some time or another--a favorite station changes its format. The effect is unsettling. Last year, National Public Radio listeners in Lake Charles, La., experienced something even more alarming.

Nice the way they just assume that folks in Lake Charles must have found it "alarming", eh?

Now, these may not necessarily be indicators of liberal bias at the Times; they may just demonstrate grotesque insenitivity to the religious beliefs of a plurality of Americans. But, whichever is the case, surely Mr. Kristoff's crusade against the "sneering tone"of media coverage of Christians should begin at home, shouldn't it? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 25, 2003 3:31 PM